Our Little Family
by Natalie122333
Summary: Post Season 7. Lorelai and Luke are married. Lorelai finds out she is pregnant. The story continues with them raising a family.
1. Chapter 1

Lorelai woke up to find the other side of the bed empty. Luke must have already got up. She gets up out of the bed and starts to head towards the door, then stops. She feels nauseous all of a sudden. She runs to the bathroom and gets there just in time. After a minute, she gets up off the floor and washes her face at the sink. She has a thought: "Oh, God maybe I'm pregnant… Luke and I have been trying to conceive for a couple of months."

She walks downstairs and finds Luke putting breakfast on the table. "Oh, I was just about to come wake you." He says, and then walks over to her. He starts to lean in for a kiss, but Lorelai puts a hand on his chest.

"I don't think you want to do that. I just threw up upstairs."

Luke makes a face like he's grossed out "What? Are you sick?" He asks.

"No, hon… I think it could be morning sickness. I think I could be pregnant."

Luke stared at her. "Oh? Maybe you should take a test or something."

Lorelai nods, "Yeah, you're right, I probably should. Thanks for breakfast, but I don't really have an appetite anymore. Do you think we could drive to Hartford to get a test? I wouldn't want someone like Miss Patty seeing me buying it and telling the whole town."

Luke nods, "Yeah that would be chaotic. Go get dressed and I'll eat then we can go."

Later that morning they return home with a pregnancy test. Luke waits on their bed while Lorelai takes the test in the bathroom. Ten minutes later, she opens the door. "So?" Luke says, sounding anxious.

"We're having a baby!" Lorelai shouts and gestures for him to come in the bathroom.

He goes in and looks closely at the test sitting on the counter. "Wow that's… this is great." He smiles at her and she grins back. He wraps his arms around her and she immediately hugs him back.

"I love you." She whispers in his ear.

He holds her tighter and whispers back "I love you too, crazy lady."

They pull apart and Luke says: "So can I kiss you now or are you going to be sick again?"

Lorelai shakes her head. He leans in and gives her a long, deep kiss. "Hey, this means you have to switch to decaf coffee." He says after pulling back.

"Luke, I can't do that. I especially can't give up the coffee _you _make me." She gives him a small smile.

He shakes his head, "I don't want our kid to have two heads or extra fingers or toes."

"But, I drank normal coffee when I was pregnant with Rory and she turned out fine."

Luke raised his eyebrows, "But she's just as addicted to coffee as you are. Hopefully I can convince my kid not to drink any coffee."

Lorelai shook her head, but she also giggled. "Okay, maybe I'll try decaf. Rory didn't start drinking coffee until she was about thirteen so it's not like I'm gonna let my baby drink coffee. Anyway, Luke, we're going to have our own little family I'm so excited!"

Luke laughed: "Me too. I get to experience being a father from the beginning this time. I can't wait." Lorelai smiled and leaned in to kiss him again.

A few months later

Lorelai and Luke are lying on their bed, watching late night TV. Lorelai's head is on his chest and his arm is around her. All of a sudden, Lorelai shouts "Woah!"

"What?! Are you alright?" Luke asks, alarmed.

"The baby just kicked!" She says. She reaches for his hand and guides it to her belly.

A couple of minutes pass and Luke says "I don't feel anything are you sure…"

"Shh." She interrupts. Then it happens again.

"Okay, I felt that." Luke says and smiles. "Wow that's really something."

Lorelai laughs. "It's our baby that we made together, can you believe it? I haven't been pregnant in almost twenty five years! I forgot what it was like."

"I can't wait to meet this kid… I didn't get a chance to see April as a baby, but I actually have really become fond of Doula." Luke laughs. Lorelai, smiles thinking about what a great Dad he'll be.

An hour later, Luke whispers: "Lorelai, are you still awake?" No response. He looks down and sees that her eyes are closed and hears her breathing evenly. She's still on his chest; he smiles and decides to let her sleep on him. He turns off the light and lays his head down on the pillow and pulls the blanket over Lorelai. He kisses the top of her head and closes his eyes and relaxes.

Five months later

Lorelai woke up and felt wetness on the bed sheets. She pulled back the blanket and looked down, realized she couldn't see anything then reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. She looked and saw that her sweatpants and the sheets were wet. Her water must have broken in her sleep. She gasped then decided to wake up Luke. She put a hand on his back and gently nudged him. He groaned. "Luke, my water broke the baby's coming." She said.

"What?" He said, sounding confused.

"The baby's on the way get up, hon."

He heard her more clearly that time. "Oh… We have to get to the hospital." He said, sitting up quickly. He got up out the bed and rushed over to her side. He put out his hand, she took it and he helped her up. They put their shoes on and walked side by side, all the way to Luke's truck. He made sure she was buckled up before driving.

Hours later, Lorelai delivers a healthy baby boy. Luke holds him after Lorelai and stares down at him, smiling. Lorelai gasps all of a sudden. "What is it?! Are you alright?" Luke turns to her, frightened.

"Luke, it's your dark day. It's November 30th."

"Oh, you're right. Well, it doesn't have to be dark anymore… now that this little guy is here." Luke smiles at Lorelai then looks back down at his son.

"Luke, we can name him… after your dad if you want to. I don't mind."

Luke nods, "William, William Danes. Sure, that's a great name for him."


	2. Chapter 2

Luke and Lorelai decided to take a few weeks off work to be with William (his nickname would be Will). After those weeks passed, they decided that Lorelai would work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Luke would work Thursday and Friday, and they would spend the weekends together. It was Monday and Luke's first time alone with Will.

Everything was going fine; Luke had just given Will his bottle and changed his diaper. Lorelai had to teach him how to change diapers, and although at first he was a little disgusted, he got used to it. He set Will down in his crib for a nap. After about a minute, Will suddenly bursts out crying. "Hey… what's the matter?" Luke asked him. He scooped him up and cradled him. Will continued to cry and Luke tried to give him the bottle again, but he didn't drink it. He checked his diaper, but it was still clean. Luke began to panic, he knew Lorelai trusted him to be alone with Will, but he also knew he had to call her because she'd know what to do. While still holding Will, he pulled out his cell phone and called the Dragonfly Inn. "Dragonfly Inn, Michel speaking."

"Um, hi Michel… it's Luke. Could you give the phone to Lorelai please?" Luke asked him.

"Is this a personal call?" Michel asked, sounding annoyed. "Michel, please it's kind of an emergency."

"Alright." Michel replied with a sigh. Luke waited a couple minutes until he heard Lorelai pick up the phone.

"Luke? Is everything alright?"

"Lorelai, I'm sorry to call you when you're busy, but uh I can't get Will to stop crying."

"Oh, no. Did you give him a bottle and change his diaper?"

"Yeah I did both of those things."

"Okay, how about y burping him? Did you try that? And then sit in the rocking chair and rock him to sleep, he likes that."

"Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot to burp him!" Hold on a minute I'll try that." Luke puts the phone down and moves to the rocking chair and holds Will close to him with his chin resting on his shoulder. He pats Will's back until he burps and after a minute, Will stops crying. Luke holds him with one arm and picks up the phone with his other hand. "It worked, thanks Lorelai I know I told you I can handle this and I'm sorry I had to call you."

"It's alright, Luke you're a first time father of a baby. I would have been a mess without my parents helping me with Rory the first year."

"Yeah, oh, you should probably get back to work." Luke says. "Yeah, I'll see you two when I get back. Bye, Hon. I love you."

"I Love you too, bye." Luke hangs up and sets the phone down. He holds Will and gently rocks the chair until Will's asleep. Then he takes him back to his crib and sets him down gently. "Sweet dreams, Buddy." He whispers.

A few hours later, Lorelai returned to find Luke cooking diner and Will in his bassinet. "Hi, Hon." She greets Luke with a quick kiss.

"Hi. How was your day?" Luke asks.

"It was fine, just busy." Lorelai replies as she walks over to Will. She picks him up and says: "Hi how's my baby?" He coos and makes other baby noises. She smiles at him. "I missed you, Will and I missed your Daddy too." Luke looks at her and smiles.

Later that evening after Lorelai puts Will to bed, she finds Luke watching the TV downstairs. "Is he sleeping?" Luke asks her.

"Yeah," She replies simply. They watch TV together for an hour and when they can't find anything else to watch, Lorelai suddenly kisses him. He kisses her back, but then pulls away. "What was that?" He asks, curiously. Lorelai looks at him, "Luke, we haven't had time to ourselves since Will was born."

Luke thought about it, "Yeah, you're right." He puts his arm around her shoulders and pulls her in for another kiss. Their kisses soon become passionate and heated and Luke takes off his shirt. Lorelai reaches to unbutton his jeans and he grabs the hem of her shirt. Lorelai removes her shirt and Luke stands and starts to take off his jeans. Then they hear Will crying on the baby monitor. They both sigh and quickly put their clothes back on and go upstairs.

The next night, Lorelai returns home after a late night at the Inn. "Hey, I'm home. Sorry I'm so late. We were so busy…" She trails off when she doesn't hear Luke answer. "Luke? Where are you?" She walks around the house looking for him. She gets to the family room and finds Luke, lying on the couch. Will is lying on Luke's chest and he's asleep, but Luke is also asleep. Lorelai smiles at the adorable sight. She kneels on the floor next to the couch and tries to wake Luke by kissing his cheek. He opens his eyes. "Hi." Lorelai whispers.

"Hi." He whispers back.

"Both of you were sleeping, it was so cute." Lorelai tells him.

"Yeah…" He yawns. "I'm exhausted." He slowly sits up and manages to hold Will without moving him too much and he stays asleep.

"Then let's head to bed." Lorelai says. Luke stands up and Lorelai takes Will from him. They go upstairs to the master bedroom where Will's crib is. Lorelai sets him down while Luke goes to the bathroom. Lorelai changes her clothes then waits on the bed for him. Luke comes out of the bathroom and gets in the bed.

"Are you sure you don't mind going to bed this early?" Luke asks her.

"Of course not, I'm tired too. It's almost eleven." Luke nods then reaches over and turns off the lamp on the bedside table. He turns towards Lorelai and leans in to kiss her goodnight. He gives her two quick kisses and whispers; "Night."

"Night," She whispers back, they both settle in the bed, close to each other with Luke's pillow right next to her's and their legs touching under the sheets.


	3. Chapter 3

A Few Months Later

Lorelai and Luke are sitting on the floor, playing with Will. "I can't believe he's already this big. He'll be off to school before we know it. It just goes by so fast." Lorelai says.

"Yeah, I know. It's weird… I never got to see any firsts with April. I didn't get to hear her first words, see her first steps or her first day of school or anything. I know we're older parents, and by the time he graduates high school, we'll be almost sixty… but it doesn't matter. I'm glad I get to experience parenting with you." Luke replies.

"Luke." Lorelai says and she smiles at him. "I'm happy too. You're a great dad to Will, and also to April even though you missed all those years with her. I'm happy that you're the one I had another kid with, that I get to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you. I feel like… like I don't say it enough."

Luke looks at her and says; "Lorelai, you don't have to say it. I know you feel it. But I'm happy to hear it and I love you too." Lorelai smiles and leans in to kiss him, but Will interrupts them.

"Ma…mama." Will says in a tiny voice. Lorelai turns to him. "Will, did you just say Mama?" She turns back to Luke. "Did you hear him say it?" She asks.

"I think I did… maybe he'll say it again?" Luke replies.

Lorelai picks up Will and holds him in front of her. "Hi, baby. Can you say Mama? Come on, say it for me." Luke raises his eyebrows and Lorelai just stares at Will. "Mama…can you say it? Mama… Mama." Lorelai says to Will, practically begging him. About ten seconds pass then Will says it, "Mama." "Good job! I love you, Will." Lorelai responds and hugs him.

"Give him here; let's see if I can get him to say Dada." Luke says, sounding a bit sarcastic.

"Okay." Lorelai says simply and gently hands him Will.

Luke holds him by his armpits and stares at him. "Hey, buddy… can you say Dada...Dada?" Will just stares at him and fidgets in his arms.

Lorelai giggles; "He's going to be a Momma's boy. I can tell right now, sorry Luke." She grins at him.

"Oh, you can tell, huh?" Luke smirks. "Well, I'll try one more time." He sets Will down in front of him and says: "Will, come on, say Dada… you can do it, say Dada." Will just makes random baby sounds.

"It's okay, hon, he'll say it eventually." Lorelai reaches out and rubs Luke's arm.

"I know. He can take all the time he needs." Luke says. Lorelai leans in and kisses him, pulls back a little then kisses him again.

"Will interrupted us before." She says, after pulling away.

"I remember." Luke replies. He wraps his arm around her and she leans into him. They watch Will play with his toys.

A Few Months Later (One week before Will's first birthday)

Luke enters the bedroom holding Will on his hip and a mug of coffee in his other hand. He sets the coffee down on the nightstand and puts Will down on the floor. He kneels down in front of the bed, where Lorelai is sleeping. He gently shakes her to wake her up. "Hey." He whispers when she opens her eyes.

"Hey." She whispers back then looks at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "I guess I have to get up, huh?" She mutters.

"Yeah, sorry I had to wake you."

"No, it's okay… kiss?" She asks him. He leans in and gives her a peck on the lips.

"Okay, I can get up now." She says. She pulls back the covers and reaches for her coffee mug, but stops when she sees Will. Luke has stood up and he looks down at her when she gasps.

"What?" He asks her.

"Look at Will, he's standing up. Luke turns around to look at him. Will is standing up, holding onto a chair.

"Maybe he's going to try to walk?" Lorelai says.

Luke goes to sit a few feet in front of Will. "Hey, Will come here. Come to Daddy." Lorelai watches with a smile on her face. Will keeps holding onto the chair, but he puts one foot forward. He stays still for a few seconds then lets go of the chair takes two tiny steps forward. "Come on." Luke encourages him. Will walks a couple more small steps then stumbles, but Luke is there to catch him. Luke holds him and looks over at Lorelai. Lorelai grins at him. Luke looks back at Will. "Good job, Buddy." He quickly kisses Will's cheek.

Lorelai smiles at the sight. "He's definitely turned into a softie." She thinks. Lorelai gets up out of the bed and walks over to sit a few feet from Luke and Will. "See if he'll walk to me." She says. Luke turns Will around to face Lorelai then stands him up. "Will, come to Mommy." Lorelai calls to him. Will looks at her for moment then takes a small step, then another. After another step, he falls. He cries and Lorelai scoots over to him and picks him up. "Aww, it's alright, Honey. You did a good job. You don't have to master walking in one day." Will stops crying once Lorelai holds him close to her.

Luke gets off the floor. "I'll take him; you go get ready for work." Lorelai holds Will up to Luke and he bends down to pick him up. After Luke takes Will from her, Lorelai gets up and heads to the bathroom.

A half hour later, Lorelai leaves for work. Luke sees her off at the front door, holding Will. "Bye, have a good day." He tells her.

"I'll try." She responds. She leans in to give him a quick kiss then bends down to kiss Will's forehead. "Bye, see you two later." She says.

"See ya." Luke replies. Lorelai turns and walks out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Will's first birthday was on a Monday, so Luke and Lorelai decided to have his birthday party on the Saturday before.

Friday Afternoon

Luke returned home to find Lorelai folding laundry. "Hey." He greets her and puts down a box that he was carrying. He sits next to her on the couch.

"Hey back." She says and she leans in to give him a quick kiss.

"Where's Will?" He asks.

"Napping," She replies. Luke just nods.

"So, what's in the box?" Lorelai asks.

"Oh, I found it in the mail box. It's from April; I'm thinking it might be a birthday present for Will."

Lorelai smiles, "That's nice of her. She didn't have to send him anything."

"Yeah, she told me on the phone the other day that she wishes she could be here."

Lorelai nods, it would be nice to have April with them. Lorelai and April really bonded after they became stepmother and daughter. Luke picks up the box and starts to peel the tape off the sides. Lorelai continues folding laundry while he takes a couple of minutes to open the box. She hears Luke sigh and she looks at him. Inside the box was a small blue baseball hat.

"For Will, so he and his dad can match." Luke reads April's note out load. Lorelai laughs. "What's so funny? It's kind of strange I think… I don't want him to match me."

"What's funny is Rory stopped by today to give Will a present that goes so well with the hat."

"Oh, she came by the diner for lunch and we talked a bit, she didn't mention anything about a present."

"Well, I'll go get it so you can see." Lorelai gets up, leaving Luke confused about Rory's present. She returns a few minutes later, holding a bag in her hand. "Ta-da." She pulls out a shirt from the bag, unfolds it and holds it out in front of her.

Luke stares at it and realizes it's a baby-sized flannel shirt. He groans; "Lorelai, I don't want him to match me. Everyone will see it and make fun of me or something… it will be weird for me."

"Aww, Luke it will be cute trust me." Luke just rolls his eyes. They both hear Will crying on the baby monitor. "I'll get him." Lorelai says and she picks up the hat on the way. She returns fifteen minutes later with Will. "Luke… get ready for the most adorable thing ever. He looks so cute in this outfit, you simply can't deny it." Lorelai walks over and stands in front of Luke and holds Will in front of her. Luke stares at his son, wearing the blue hat, turned backwards, the flannel shirt, blue and white in colour and jeans. He couldn't help the smile that formed on his face. He didn't want to admit it to Lorelai, but Will did look cute. Lorelai sees his smile and she knows that he thinks Will looks cute. "Can you take him? I'm gonna go put these clothes away." She tells him.

"Sure." He replies and he holds out his arms and Lorelai hands him Will. Lorelai leaves the room with the laundry basket of clothes. Luke gently rubs Will's back and Will looks at him and gives him a small smile. Luke returns the smile.

The next day

Almost all of Lorelai and Luke's friends and family attended Will's party, including: Sookie, Jackson and their three kids, Liz, TJ, and Doula, Miss Patty, Babette and Morey, Lane, Zach and their twins and even Emily and Richard.

Luke helps Will blow out his candles and Lorelai helps him open his presents.

Monday Morning

Lorelai wakes up early. She wakes up just before 8 A.M. Will was born at 8:11 AM, one year ago. She goes into his room to find him standing up in his crib, not crying, just standing there. "Hi, Baby." She greets him as she walks over to him. He puts his arms up when she stands in front of him. "Aww, how's my birthday boy?" She asks when she picks him up. He rests his head on her shoulder and she smiles. She sits on the rocking chair and holds him close. At exactly 8:11, she whispers "Happy Birthday, honey. I love you." She holds him for a few more minutes then gets up and changes his diaper. She goes back into the master bedroom and sets Will down on the foot of the bed. Luke is still sleeping, so she gently nudges him until he opens his eyes. "Hey." She whispers.

He yawns then whispers "Morning." She smiles at him then walks over to pick up Will. She sets him down in front of Luke. Luke sits up then wraps his arms around Will and lifts him onto his lap. "Happy Birthday, Will." He says and he quickly kisses the top of his head. Lorelai sits next to him.

"Hey, Hon." She says to get Luke's attention. Luke takes his eyes off Will and turns to face Lorelai.

"Yeah?" He asks. "How are you feeling about your dad? I'm sorry I didn't want ask if it upsets you to talk about it."

"No, it's alright, Lorelai. I'm uh… well I think maybe I'll go and visit his grave if that's okay."

Lorelai nods, "Of course, take all the time you need."

"Thanks, I'm gonna go shower and then I'll leave." He hands Will to her and gives her a quick peck on the lips.

A couple hours later, Luke returns to find Lorelai playing with Will. "Hi." Lorelai smiles at him. He gives her a small smile back and sits next to her. Lorelai notices he looks sad. She leans over and kisses his cheek. When she pulls away, he looks at her and she sees tears in his eyes. "Oh, Hon. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," He blinks "I'm just still not over it you know? Even after all these years, it's kind of pathetic." He sighs.

"No, it's not you just miss him and bet you he'd be so proud of you. He's probably looking down and smiling at us right now." She says, trying to make him feel better.

"You really think so?" He asks.

"Yeah, I do." She says softly. She puts her arm on his back and gently rubs her hand up and down it then rests her head on his shoulder. He puts his arm around her and kisses her temple. Will stands up and walks over to them. Luke smiles at him, "Hi, buddy," Will holds out a small toy truck to him. Luke takes it and wraps his other arm around Will. They all enjoy a family hug.


	5. Chapter 5

2 Days Before Christmas

Luke sits at the airport, waiting for April's flight to arrive. This Christmas, April would get to spend a few days with Luke, Lorelai and Will, as she spent last Christmas with Anna. He sees her walking towards him, pulling her wheeled suitcase behind her. He stands up when she's a few feet away.

"Hi, Dad," She greets him and she lets go of her suitcase to hug him.

"Hi, April," He greets her and returns the hug. After a few seconds, April pulls back;

"How are Lorelai and Will?" She asks him.

"They're great, excited to see you and Rory is home also." April just smiles. "Come on, let's head home." He says and he grabs her suitcase.

An hour later, they arrive home. Luke brings April's suitcase up to one of the spare bedrooms. April finds Lorelai and Will in the family room. "Hi, Lorelai." She greets her.

"April! Hi, how are you, honey?" Lorelai gets up off the couch and walks over to April, picking up Will on the way.

"I'm good. Can I hold him?" She asks.

"Of course, here," She holds Will out and April takes him. Will looks up at her, curiously.

"He probably doesn't remember me since he was only eight months old the last time I saw him."

"But, look, he's smiling at you!" Lorelai exclaims. April looks down at Will, and sure enough, he's smiling at her. She smiles back at him.

"So, where's Rory?" She asks.

"Oh she's out visiting Lane, Zack and the boys."

April nods, "Oh… so Dad said that Will can walk now."

"Oh, yeah, he's fast too, always keeping us on our toes." April sets Will on his feet and sure enough, he starts walking. He walks right up to Luke, who's entering the room.

Luke scoops him up. "Hey, I was seeing how he could walk. He grown so much, it's amazing, really." April says. Luke smiles at her.

Lorelai looks at the clock on the wall. "I have to go take care of some last minute Christmas things at the Inn, I'll be back for dinner. See you two later." She picks up her purse and quickly kisses Luke and Will goodbye then walks out the front door.

Two days later, on Christmas morning, Lorelai, Luke, Rory and April exchange gifts. Lorelai gave Luke a new sweater, a new flannel shirt and a new watch. He gave her a pair of diamond earrings and surprised her with a framed picture of him and Will that he had taken one day when she was working. Lorelai gave Rory some new clothes and books that she had wanted to read. Luke gave Rory a bracelet that Liz had made. Lorelai and Luke gave April a telescope that she could use when she visited. April gave Luke another flannel shirt and a fishing lure, and she gave Lorelai a coffee mug and a pretty necklace. Rory gave Luke a new toolbox and Lorelai new shoes and April a book on astronomy. Will received lots of toys and some clothes from all of his family members.

Valentine's Day

Lorelai waited for Luke to come home. Liz had called him, asking him to come over for something she wouldn't say. Lorelai hadn't reminded Luke that it was Valentine's Day. She got him a card and she wasn't really expecting much in return, since she figured Luke had forgotten, and he didn't even really like Valentine's Day. She hears the front door open, so she gets off the couch. Luke comes inside; Lorelai notices he has one arm behind his back.

"Hey." He greets her.

"Hey back." She says.

"Um, I got you these, for Valentine's Day." He pulls his arm from behind his back to reveal a dozen red roses.

A huge grin breaks out on Lorelai's face. "Oh, wow. Luke… they're beautiful. Thank you." She takes them from him.

"You're welcome." He says simply. She sets the flowers down on the entryway table. She puts her arms around his neck and leans in to kiss him. He responds immediately and wraps his arms around her waist. They enjoy a couple sweet, lingering kisses. Lorelai pulls back, but only slightly. She moves her arms to his back and puts her head on his shoulder. He leans down, putting his chin on her shoulder. They pull apart after about twenty seconds pass.

"I got you a card; it's not much but…"

He interrupts; "It's alright, I don't need anything. Just being with you every day is enough." Lorelai gives him a sweet smile then walks away to get the card from the kitchen. She returns a minute later and hands him the card.

"Thanks." He says after he reads it.

"You're welcome. It's really mushy but it says the message, you know?" He just nods. "So, what did Liz want?" She asks.

"Oh well, she offered to take Will for the night actually. She said that we deserve to have a nice night off on Valentine's Day." He tells her.

"Oh, but what about her and T.J.? Don't they have plans?" She asks.

"She said they just want to spend the night with Doula and they wouldn't mind having Will too. I told her that they don't have to, but she insisted."

Lorelai nods; "Oh, well it would be nice to go out and it's really sweet of them to offer, but I think all of the restaurants will be reserved tonight."

"I thought so too, but I called Maisy at Sniffy's and she said she and Buddy would be happy to have us."

Lorelai smiles, "Really? Well we haven't seen them in forever. Did you tell them that we'd come?"

"Yeah, I said we'd come for dinner, is that okay?"

"Yeah, of course. It will be nice to have a night alone… the whole night."

Luke nods in agreement. "Yeah I kind of felt bad at first, but then I thought we deserve a night alone together, right?"

"Right," She agrees.

A couple hours later, Lorelai gets dressed to go out. She chooses a long pink dress that had a low neckline and hugged her curves. Luke comes into the bedroom, carrying Will. He sees Lorelai, looking at herself in the mirror. "You look… beautiful." He tells her.

"Aww, thanks hon." He hands her Will and goes over to the closet to get a dress shirt and pants. He quickly changes and Lorelai approves of his attire, telling him he looks handsome. They leave and drop off Will and Liz and T.J.'s place. Lorelai was a little sad to leave him, but she knows her and Luke deserve a night off. As soon as they enter Sniffy's, Maisy comes over to them. "Lucas, Lorelai, I'm so happy to see you two." She pulls Luke into a hug.

"We're happy to see you too, Maisy." Luke says after Maisy pulls away from him.

"Lorelai, you look lovely!" She says and she hugs her too.

"Thanks, Maisy. How are you and Buddy doing?"

"We're great. How's your little bundle of joy… oh I guess he's not so little anymore is he?"

"Yeah, he's over one now. We can't believe how fast he's growing up so fast!" Lorelai replies.

"Do you have a picture of him?" Maisy asks.

Before Lorelai could reach into her purse, Luke answers her; "Yeah, let me get it out." He removes his wallet from his pocket.

"You have a picture of Will in your wallet?" Lorelai asks him, sounding shocked.

"Yeah.", Luke replies simply. He takes out the picture and hands it to Maisy.

"Well, he certainly has gotten bigger. I think he looks more like you, Lorelai." Maisy says.

"Really?" Lorelai responds. She thinks that Will has Luke's eye colour, the exact same shade as him, but his facial features are more like hers, although she doesn't admit it, since she wanted him to look like Luke.

"Yes, he has your chin and your nose I think." Maisy says. Luke nods, he's noticed that Will looks more like Lorelai, but he doesn't care. Maisy gives the picture back to Luke and he puts it away, Lorelai watches. "Well, let's get you to your table." Maisy leads them to a table and tells them that she'll bring Buddy out to say hi.

"Hey, do you keep the picture of Will next to the horoscope?" Lorelai asks.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Luke replies.

"That's sweet." Lorelai grins and he smiles back at her.

Maisy returns with Buddy behind her. "Luke! Lorelai! How are you two kids doing?"

"Hi Buddy, we're great, thanks." Luke replies.

"And how about William, is he keeping you on your toes?"

"Yeah, he's a handful, but we couldn't be happier." Lorelai tells him.

Buddy smiles and Maisy says, "Well, we'll have your waitress bring back a special meal for you."

"Great, thanks." Lorelai replies.

An hour later, after dinner and dessert, Lorelai and Luke say goodbye to Maisy and Buddy and leave. They get home and Luke asks Lorelai what she wants to do. She playfully hits him and says; "Luke, we have the house to ourselves… we have the whole night alone." Before he can say anything, she grabs his hand and leads him to the bedroom. Once they're inside, she wastes no time and kisses him. He kisses her back and pulls her closer. After a few seconds, she pulls back. She quickly unbuttons his shirt and he slides it off. He puts his hand under her chin and brings her lips back to his. Her hands end up in his hair and his move to her back. They pull apart again and Lorelai turns around so Luke can unzip her dress. Once the dress is off her shoulders, he kisses her neck, then her shoulder. She pushes the dress off so it falls to the floor. She turns around to face him, wanting to see his reaction to the lingerie she's wearing.

"You like?" She asks.

"I love." He whispers. She pulls him back to her and they kiss passionately for a couple minutes before she reaches for the button of his pants and he reaches for her bra strap. They walk to the bed and Lorelai lies down and he joins her once he removes his pants.

Afterwards, they lie tangled up together, her arm draped across his middle, head in the crook of his arm.

"I love you." He says sweetly.

"I love you too, babe."

"Oh, I just remembered something." He mutters.

"Hmm… what's that?" She asks.

"Just wait here, I'll be back." He tells her and he moves away from her and gets up. She watches him pick up his boxer-briefs from the floor and slip them on. She doesn't say anything as he walks out of the room.

He returns five minutes later, carrying a small gift bag. "I got you another Valentine's gift. I was gonna give it to you at dinner, but I forgot." He says and he hands her the bag as he gets back in bed.

She grins at him and opens it to find a beautiful silver bracelet. "Oh, Luke it's so pretty."

He smiles, "I'm glad you like it."

She gives him a long, deep kiss and whispers, "Thank you. You're so sweet."

"You're welcome." He replies with a loving smile.


	6. Chapter 6

October (A few weeks before Will's 2nd birthday)

It was evening, and Lorelai and Luke are watching TV while Will slept. They had also been planning Will's birthday party. "I can't believe it's already been almost two years since he was born." Lorelai says.

"Yeah, I know it feels like it was yesterday… time really does fly." Luke responds.

"Luke, I want to ask you something." She says, in a serious tone.

He turns his head to face her. "What is it?"

"Um, well I know we didn't exactly say how many kids we wanted, but… Luke I think I'm ready. I want to have another kid. Are you ready? Or do you even want another kid?"

Luke stares at her. He had been thinking about bringing up this topic with her, but he didn't know how. "Um… yeah, I think I do want another kid. I want Will to be a big brother. And I think if we both want this then we should try…before we won't be able to have more kids… right?"

Lorelai grins at him and she thinks back to when they were engaged the first time and he had said: "_Kids its plural. So it sounds like a lot but we can just have one kid, one's fine, or more if you want more…" _And now, years later, they had a son together and they both wanted another kid.

"Yeah, I don't really know how many years I have left… um so if we really want another baby then we should start trying soon. As long as you really want another kid." She says.

He smiles, "Yeah, I do. I'm ready; having another kid with you would be great." He says, sincerely. She smiles and quickly kisses him then snuggles up to him, burying her face in his chest. He wraps an arm around her and kisses the top of her head.

Four Months Later

A few days after that conversation, they started to try for a baby, but so far they had no luck conceiving. Lorelai started to wonder if she should go see a fertility specialist. One afternoon at the Inn, when she was booking a room for customers, she looked at the calendar and realized she was a week late. Sookie caught her daydreaming and asked her what was on her mind. "Um, well we haven't told anyone yet, but Luke and I are trying for another baby and… I just noticed that I'm a week late." 

"Oh, Lorelai! That's wonderful! Are you going to take a test? 'Cause you should! I could go pick one up for you if you're too busy." 

"Um, I don't know, Sookie. When I found out I was pregnant with Will, Luke was there when I took the test. Maybe I should wait until I get home." 

"Aww, but if you find out here you could surprise him when you get home." 

"Hmm, I guess it would be nice to surprise him." Lorelai replied.

Sookie squeals and says: "Okay, I'll go to the store to get the test for you."

A few hours later

Lorelai returns home to find Luke cooking dinner and Will colouring at the kitchen table. She goes to greet Will first, kissing the top of his head. He's too focused on his colouring to notice her, but she doesn't mind. She walks over to Luke. "Hi, Hon." He turns away from the stove to give her a quick kiss. "So, I have a surprise for you." She says.

"Hmm," He mutters, focusing on cooking, but after a few seconds, he turns the stove off and turns his attention to her.

She takes a deep breath, "Well, at the Inn today, I took a pregnancy test… Sookie talked me into it and… it's was positive! Luke, I'm pregnant!" She smiles.

It takes Luke a moment to absorb the information. "Lorelai! That's great! Wow, I'm going to be a dad again!" She grins at his reaction and he pulls her into a tight hug.

They hold each other for a moment before Will shouts; "Mommy, Daddy, I'm hungry!"

Luke and Lorelai laugh and pull away from each other. "Dinner's almost ready, Buddy." Luke tells Will.


	7. Chapter 7

A few weeks later

Lorelai got into the jeep and started it up. She was leaving her parents' house. Emily had called a few days earlier, saying that she and Richard had wanted to spend a day with Will. Lorelai told her that it would be fine for them to spend a day with Will, the Inn was very busy with a lot of weddings and other events coming up and Luke had gone to the diner early that morning to handle deliveries.

She drove to the Inn and started work for the day. Later that afternoon, she noticed that she was bleeding. She knew that it wasn't exactly normal to bleed during pregnancy, so she decided to drive herself to the hospital.

That Night

Luke returned home, he looked downstairs, but he didn't see Lorelai anywhere. "Lorelai?" He called, wondering where she was. He didn't hear any response, but he decided to go upstairs to their bedroom to see if she was there. He found her lying on the bed. "Lorelai? Are you sleeping?" He asked.

She sobbed softly. "Lorelai?! Are you alright?" He immediately rushed over to the bed. He looks at her face and sees it's red and tear-streaked. "What's wrong?" He asks, gently.

She looks at him and wonders how she'll tell him that she lost their baby, the baby that they both wanted so badly. "Luke, I…" She stops, not knowing how to tell him. 

"What is it? Is it Will? Rory? Your parents?" He asks. 

She shakes her head and another sob escapes her. "It's the baby, Luke. I… I lost our baby, I had a miscarriage." She sobs again and tears run down her cheeks. 

"Oh… no. Lorelai… the… our baby is gone… just like that? How did you find out?" 

Lorelai looks down, not being able to look him in the eye. "I noticed that I was bleeding and I knew that wasn't normal so I… I drove to the hospital and after some tests, they… they told me that I had lost the baby."

Luke grabs her hand and holds it. "Did they say if anything caused it? Or… God… I didn't even think about this happening to us since you had Will with no problems." 

"Um, all they really said was that women my age are more likely to have miscarriages and… I just can't believe he or she is gone… I…" Lorelai broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

Luke let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her, gently pulling her into his embrace. "Shh." He whispered, not knowing what to say to soothe her.

She pulls away from him and says: "Luke, I lost our baby… are you mad at me?" 

"What?! Lorelai, how could I be mad? It wasn't your fault. I'm a little upset that I wasn't there when you found out, but, we can try again… right?"

She nods: "They said I should be able to get pregnant again, but it's just… harder for women my age. And I just wanted this baby so much… _this _baby and now it's gone forever."

Luke moved his hands to her face and wiped at her tears with his thumbs. "I wanted this baby too, Lorelai. There's nothing you could have done to stop this from happening. It's just… awful, I know it is… but we can try again, I want to. I love you and I loved this baby and if we're lucky enough to have another baby, I'll love it too. We'll get through this together. I promise you." He felt tears welling up in his own eyes and he blinked to try and stop them from rolling down his face.

Lorelai nods, looks into his eyes and says: "I love you too. And you're right; we can get through this together. It will be hard, but we can do it."

Luke nods. "Is Will still with your parents?" He asks. 

"Yeah, I called my mom and told her what happened and I asked if they could keep him for the night and she said it was no problem." 

"Okay." He replies. A minute of silence passes.

"Luke, let's just… can we stay in bed for a while?" She asks him.

"Sure." He replies, knowing that she needs him right now. She lies back down and he gets up and walks over to the other side of the bed, pulls back the covers and lies down next to her. He puts a hand on hers and pulls it. She starts to move closer to him and he pulls her so that the upper half of her body is lying on his chest. He leans down and kisses the top of her head, then wraps one arm around her shoulders. He feels her body shake, as she starts sobbing again. He runs his other hand through her hair and up and down her back. He takes a deep breath and lets his own tears escape. She lifts her head, looks at his face and whispers: "Oh, hon." She leans in and kisses his cheek, which is tear-stained. When she pulls back, he looks at her then closes his eyes and starts to lean in at the same time she does. They share a very gentle kiss of comfort. She pulls away and puts her head back on his chest. He holds her for a long time, as they start to grieve their loss.

Author's note: Sorry if that was really sad, I just thought it would be realistic since Lorelai would be over 40 when this story takes place.


	8. Chapter 8

A few months later

Fortunately, Lorelai was able to get pregnant again five months after the miscarriage. Both she and Luke were relieved when she got past the 20th week of the pregnancy. At a regular doctor's appointment, they decided that they wanted to find out the sex of the baby, since they didn't do so with Will and they were both thrilled to find out they were having a baby girl.

One night in December, Lorelai has trouble getting to sleep. She smells the air, and she knows the first snow is coming. She pokes and pushes Luke to wake him up. He groans. "Come on, wake up. You're going to miss the first snow." She tells him. 

"What? Lorelai, I don't want to get up… its cold." She pokes him again and whispers;

"Please Luke, it's magical. It's the best time of the year." He groans again, but he pulls off the covers. Lorelai grins and gets up out of the bed. They quickly put on their coats and boots and head outside. They stand on the street for about a minute before the snow starts to fall.

They look up and watch it fall for a moment before Lorelai gasps loudly. "What?! Are you okay?" Luke asks, alarmed.

"She kicked… the baby."

Luke smiles, "I guess she's going to be like her mother and have a crazy relationship with snow."

Lorelai smiles back at him: "Yeah, maybe she will… or maybe she'll be more like you and she'll be into fishing or camping, or she'll just be daddy's little girl."

He beamed at her. "Yeah, maybe."

They stand outside for another minute before going back inside. Once they're back in bed, Lorelai whispers; "You're right, it is cold."

Luke chuckles. She's lying on her side and he moves so that his chest is up against her back. He wraps an arm around her waist and whispers: "Does this help?"

She smiles, "Yeah, thank you." They fall asleep in that position.

Months later

Lorelai goes into labour on May 15th. Luke calls Sookie to have her stay with Will. At the hospital, Lorelai's labour progresses slowly. Luke is there for her for every hour, holding her hand with every contraction, giving her words of encouragement and pushing away the hair that falls in her face. Finally, after many hours, Samantha Danes is born.

"Hey, Luke, I think she has your nose… and your chin and your ears too." Luke looks down at them (Lorelai is holding Samantha) and smiles. Lorelai turns to look at him. "Do you remember all those years ago when we were in that fight over the car accident that Rory and Jess were in?" She asks him.

"Yeah, why?" He replies.

"Remember how I told you that I was never going to have the whole package? And you told me that I would get it." Luke nods.

"Well, I have it now. With you, we had it before we had Will and after we had him… and having Samantha makes us even more complete." She grins at him.

He grins back, "I'm glad you feel that way… So I guess I should call Sookie to tell her that Samantha arrived and I can pick up Will and bring him to meet his little sister."

Lorelai nods "Yeah that'd be great. And could you bring me a cup of coffee?" She asks, pleading him with her eyes.

He rolls his eyes. "You just gave birth and the first thing you want is coffee?"

She nods. "I've been drinking decaf for months I miss the real stuff." She throws in a hair flip, knowing it will get him to do it.

He sighs, "Fine." She smiles and he leans down to give her a quick kiss before leaving.

Luke returns almost an hour later, carrying Will and a coffee cup.  
"There are my two favourite guys." Lorelai smiles at them, "Will, do you want to see you new baby sister?"

Will nods and looks at Luke, who's looking at Lorelai and Samantha. "She's sleeping, so how about Daddy holds her and you can sit next to him?" Lorelai says to Will. Will just smiles and nods. Luke sets him down on a chair and goes over to the bed and takes Samantha from Lorelai's arms and hands her the coffee cup. Luke sits down in the chair next to Will's. "Will, look this is your sister, Samantha."  
Will looks down at Samantha and then reaches out to touch her. "Be gentle." Luke reminds him. Will rests his little hand on Samantha's cheek for a few seconds. Lorelai watches, a smile on her face.

"She's little." Will says. Luke and Lorelai both laugh.

They all spend the next hour together, happily welcoming the new member of the family.


	9. Chapter 9

A few weeks later

It was a Tuesday, and Luke was spending the day at home with Will and Samantha while Lorelai worked at the Inn. After eating lunch, he decided to surprise Lorelai and bring the kids to the Inn for a quick visit. Lorelai left before anyone was awake that morning, so Luke and the kids hadn't even seen her that day.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the Dragonfly. Luke pushed Samantha in her stroller and Will walked beside him. "Why are we here, Daddy?" Will asks.

Luke looks down at him and smiles, "We're going to see Mommy." He replies.

"Yay!" Will shouts in response.

They get inside to find Lorelai talking to a guest, "I'll be sure to get some fresh towels delivered to your room, Mr. Blake" She tells the guest, and he smiles at her then walks away. Lorelai turns to see Luke and Will walking towards her.  
"Luke? What are you doing here?" She asks with a huge grin on her face.

"Well, I thought it would be nice to surprise you with a visit." Luke replies.

"Hi, Mommy." Will says. He walks up to Lorelai and she bends down to give him a hug. Luke carefully takes Samantha out of her stroller. Lorelai lets Will go, stands up and takes Samantha from Luke, "Hi, bubby." She whispers. After holding her for a minute, Samantha starts to cry. "Aww, honey what's wrong?" Lorelai tries to soothe her, but she doesn't stop crying.

"Here, let me try." Luke says and Lorelai hands him Samantha. Luke holds her close and after about a minute, she stops crying.

"What? Do you have the magic touch or something?" Lorelai asks him sarcastically. Will reaches out and pulls on her hand.

"Mommy, can I have a snack?" He asks. Sookie walks in at that moment.

"Oh! Luke, hi! Oh, you brought the kids!" She walks over to Will and greets him with a hug which he returns. "I just baked a batch of cookies; do you want to try one?" She asks Will.

"But those aren't good for him." Luke mutters.

"Luke, its fine for him to have a treat every once and a while, it's not like we let him eat a Pop Tart for breakfast every day."

"Fine." Luke gives in. Sookie smiles at them and leads Will to the kitchen. Luke puts Samantha back in her stroller.

"Hey, hon." Lorelai says to get his attention.

"Yeah?" He asks.

"Thank you for bringing the kids, I missed them this morning."

Luke smiles softly at her, "Yeah, I figured you would want to see them since you were gone so early this morning." Lorelai smiles and reaches out to pull him into a hug.

After they pull apart, Luke smiles at her again. "I hate to cut this visit short, but I should get back to work." Lorelai tells him. They both go to the kitchen to get Will. Sookie is thrilled to hold her Samantha for the first time. A few minutes later, Lorelai says goodbye to her family, kissing Samantha, who has fallen asleep in her stroller, hugging Will again, and gives Luke a quick kiss.

On the way home, Luke stops at Doose's Market to pick up some groceries. Taylor is leaving when Luke gets there. "Oh, Luke, I was just heading to the diner for lunch." Before Luke can respond, Taylor speaks again: "Oh, this must be the new addition to the Danes household. May I hold her?" He asks.

"No. I don't have time to chat right now, Taylor. I've got to get Will home so he can take a nap and I've got to pick up some things first, so can you please just get out my way?"

Will looks up at Taylor and says: "Hi, Mr."

Taylor looks down at him and says, "Hello, William, how are you today?"

Luke groans and grabs Will's hand and gently pulls him towards the door of Doose's. "Come on, Will. We need to go shopping then we can go home." Will obeys Luke and follows him and Taylor steps outs of the way. Luke pushes the stroller with one hand and guides Will inside with the other.

Later that night at around 10 P.M., an exhausted Luke and Lorelai get ready for bed. "So, when I got home earlier, there was a message on the answering machine from April, she says she wants us to go to her high school graduation in a couple weeks." Luke tells Lorelai.

"Oh. I'd love to go, but it would be hard to get all the way to New Mexico with a newborn." Lorelai replies.

"Yeah, I know so I called her back and I told her that I could come, if you're okay with me leaving for a couple of days. I was thinking that maybe you could take a couple days off work to stay with the kids." Luke says.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I'm sure the staff can handle things for a couple of days. You should get to see your daughter's graduation. I can handle the kids, so don't worry about it." She tells him.

Luke smiles back at her "Okay, I'll tell April tomorrow." He yawns and Lorelai reaches over to the bedside table and turns off the lamp and Luke does the same on his side. Lorelai slides over and kisses him, twice. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He responds. He rolls over on his side and wraps an arm around her waist, the position they usually fall asleep in.

Author's note: Thank you everyone who read, reviewed and added this story to their favourites.

I watched the Gilmore Girls reunion video and it was great seeing the cast together again, but I'm sad that there isn't a movie or another season in the works right now, the fans obviously want one and the cast seem to want to do it, so I still have a little hope we'll get something one day! I just really want to see Lorelai and Luke married with at least one kid of their own!


	10. Chapter 10

Two Weeks Later

Luke had already said goodbye to his daughter. Now, he was saying goodbye to Lorelai and Will. Although he would only be in New Mexico for two days, he knew he would miss his family. Ever since he and Lorelai got back together, they had become one of those couples who hated being apart. During the time that Rory was reporting for the Obama campaign, Luke had spent every night at Lorelai's house, comforting her when she felt sad about Rory's absence.

"Give Daddy a hug." Lorelai tells Will, and he wraps his arms around Luke's leg. Luke smiles and bends down to pick him up. He holds Will in his arms for a minute and tells him:

"Bye Will. I'll miss you. Be good for Mommy when I'm gone." He sets him down and turns to Lorelai. Lorelai leans in and wraps her arms around his waist. He wraps his arms around her back and shoulders.

"Bye. Have a safe trip." Lorelai whispers in his ear. She pulls back a little, but Luke holds her hands in his and leans in to kiss her. They pull apart after two short, sweet kisses.  
"Bye. Love you." He says.

"Love you too, doll."

He flashes her a quick smile then turns around and gets in his truck and drives away.

The next day, Luke attends April's graduation. After she receives her diploma, April finds Luke in the crowd of people.  
"Dad! I'm so glad you could make it!"

"Of course I came, sweetie. I'm so proud of you." He pulls her into a hug. Luke thinks back to when Rory graduated from Chilton. He remembers that he teared up a bit, he was so proud of Rory and he was amazed at how fast she grew up. With April, he had cried more than he'd like to admit. He had only known her for a little over five years, and he had hated the fact that he had didn't get to see her grow up. He considered himself to be very lucky to have two kids with Lorelai. 

"I have something exciting to tell you." April says, bringing Luke back to the present.

He smiles at her: "What's that?" He asks her.

"I got accepted to the University of New Haven and I'm going to go! I'll be living so much closer to you and Lorelai and Will and Sam!" She tells him.

"Wow! April, that's great! But what does your mother think?" He asks, thinking that Anna might be upset that April would be living so far away from her.

"Well, she was upset at first, but I told her what a great opportunity it would be for me, the program is amazing and I told her that living closer to you would just be a bonus and she gave in."  
Luke just nods.

"Anyway, I should go find Mom. She's probably wondering where I am." April tells him and she gives him another quick hug.

"Okay, I'll come by to say goodbye to you before I leave tomorrow."

The next night, Luke arrives home late. On the way to his and Lorelai's bedroom, he passes Will's room and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Will sitting up on his bed. He steps in the room and asks Will what's wrong. Will immediately jumps off the bed and hugs Luke's leg. Luke picks him up and holds him close. "Did you have a bad dream?" He asks Will, remembering how he had one a few weeks ago. Will nods, tears streaming down his cheeks. "It's okay, everything's okay." Luke comforts him. He holds him for a minute, and then tries to put him back to bed but Will protests, "No!"

Luke sighs, "Do you want to come to Mommy and Daddy's bed?" He asks. Will nods. Luke carries him to the master bedroom down the hall and sets him down on the bed next to a sleeping Lorelai. He goes over to Samantha's crib and sees that she's sleeping. He hears Lorelai groan and turns around to find Will poking her.

"Will! Why did you wake Mommy up?" He asks. Will frowns and Lorelai sits up, awake.

"Oh, hey you're back." She says to Luke then she wraps her arm around Will and he snuggles up to her.

"Hey. Yeah, he had a bad dream so I told him he could sleep her I hope that's okay." Luke says.

Lorelai nods, and before either of them can say anything else, Samantha starts crying. Luke immediately leans down and scoops her into his arms. He gently rocks her to calm her down. Lorelai smiles at the sight. Lorelai gives Will an extra pillow and tells him to lie down. She gets up out of the bed and walks over to Luke.

"You're so good with her." She tells him, Samantha has stopped crying and is almost asleep. Luke turns his eyes to Lorelai and he gives her a shy smile. "Hi." She whispers and she leans in to give him a peck on the lips.

"Hi." He whispers back. They both look over at Will to find he's fast asleep. Luke puts Sam back in her crib and both he and Lorelai lie on the bed on opposite sides of Will. Luke reaches out and affectionately rubs Will's back. "Goodnight." Lorelai whispers.

"'Night." Luke replies. They fall asleep fast, comfortable and content next to each other.


	11. Chapter 11

Luke woke up early the next morning. Lorelai and the kids were still fast asleep. Luke gets up, gets dressed and goes downstairs to make Lorelai a cup of coffee. Several minutes later, he returns to the bedroom and as soon as he sets the mug of coffee down on the nightstand, he hears Sam waking up. He walks over to the crib and picks her up just as she starts to cry. He gently rocks her in his arms and kisses her forehead. "Hey." He hears Lorelai whisper from across the room.

"Hey. I made you coffee, but you have some more time to sleep before you have to leave for work." Luke tells her.

"Okay." Lorelai responds.  
Will is still sleeping. Luke goes downstairs to make a bottle for Sam. He manages to hold her in one arm and make a bottle with the other. He sits down at the kitchen table and gives her the bottle, smiling down at her. He tries to imagine what April looked like as a baby, but he's only seen a few pictures so he can't really picture her. He's delighted that he gets to experience being a father from the beginning (twice), but he regrets the things he said about kids in the past that made Anna think he wouldn't want to be involved in his kid's life. However, he and Anna were never meant to be more than a casual relationship, Lorelai on the other hand, she's the only women he's ever loved, his soulmate, his perfect match. He's happy that Lorelai is the one he gets to experience being a parent with, happy that she is April's stepmother and that he is Rory's stepfather.

Ten minutes later, Lorelai comes downstairs, carrying Will.  
"Daddy, I want pancakes!" Will shouts when he sees Luke.

Luke gives Lorelai a knowing smile and asks, "Did you tell him to say that because you want pancakes?"

"Maybe." Lorelai replies with a nonchalant shrug. Luke just shakes his head and walks over to Lorelai. She puts Will down and takes Sam from Luke.

"Good morning, baby girl." Lorelai whispers to Sam. Luke gets out a frying pan, a bowl and the ingredients for pancakes. They enjoy a nice family breakfast together.

That night, Lorelai returns home to find Luke putting dinner on the table. "Hi." She greets him and leans in to give him a quick kiss. Will comes running into the room.

"Hi, Mommy!" He runs up to Lorelai and hugs her legs. She bends down to pick him up.

"Did you have a fun day with Daddy?" She asks him.

Will nods and says: "Daddy played baseball…"

"He did? Wow that must have been fun." Lorelai replies and she turns to smile at Luke. She sets Will down and before she can sit down, she hears Samantha crying on the baby monitor, which is on the counter. Luke starts to get up from his seat, but Lorelai stops him by saying; "I'll get her." Luke flashes her a smile. Lorelai goes upstairs to the master bedroom and takes Sam out of her crib. "How's my little girl?" She whispers. After changing Sam's diaper, Lorelai takes her downstairs. Once she returns to the kitchen, she starts to make a bottle.

"Let me do that, you were at work all day, sit down, relax, eat." Luke tells her. She thinks about it for a second then gives him a look of gratitude. He gets up and she walks over to him and hands him Sam.

Later that evening, Lorelai is helping Will brush his teeth while Luke watches a baseball game on TV. A few minutes later, Lorelai takes Will to Luke. Luke gets up to give Will a hug and kiss, "Goodnight, Will." Lorelai takes Will to bed and comes back ten minutes later. They watch TV together for a little bit before Lorelai starts to feel very tired. She moves on the couch and lies down so that her head is on Luke's lap. Luke doesn't protest or complain, he just runs a hand through her hair.

About an hour later, Lorelai is fast asleep. Luke turns off the TV and gently lifts Lorelai's head off his lap. He decides not to wake her up and he gets off the couch and puts his hands under her back and knees and lifts her up. She doesn't wake up as he carries her to the bedroom. He sets her down gently on the bed then gets ready for bed. A few minutes later he settles in next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

The next morning, Lorelai wakes up confused as to how she got to bed, she remembers falling asleep on the couch. Luke wakes up and mutters, "Morning."

"Morning… did you carry me to bed last night?"

Luke nods. "Yeah, I didn't want to wake you and I figured you'd be more comfortable in bed so I just decided to carry you to bed. How'd you sleep?"

"Well that was really sweet of you. I slept great, how about you, did Sam wake up during the night… I don't think I heard her…"

"Yeah, she only woke up once and I took care of her, you slept through it. She's already becoming a good sleeper, I think."

Lorelai smiles at him and kisses his scruffy cheek. "You are the perfect husband."

Luke laughs a little, "Well I don't know about that, but thanks." He gives her a loving smile. She lays her head on his chest and they snuggle for a little while before Sam wakes up.


	12. Chapter 12

Two Months Later

Luke was once again picking April up from the airport. She was going to staying with Luke and Lorelai for a few days before moving into her dorm. Luke hadn't seen April in person since her graduation and she hadn't even met her half-sister yet.

"Hi Dad."

Luke thoughts are interrupted by April's voice. He turns to see her walking towards him.

"Hey April. How was your flight?" He asks

"It was fine." She replies, reaching out to hug him.

They pull apart after a few seconds and Luke says: "Well I guess we should go get your bags." April nods and they walk to the baggage claim together.

When they return home later that day, Lorelai and Will greet them at the door. Lorelai gives April a hug and Will smiles shyly at her. Luke takes April's bags upstairs and Lorelai, April and Will sit down in the living room. Will plays with his toys on the floor while Lorelai and April sit on the couch.

"Sam's sleeping, but she should wake up soon." Lorelai tells April.

"Well, I'm excited to meet her." April responds with a smile.

Lorelai smiles back, "So, are you excited for school?"

"Yeah, I'm going to miss my mom and my friends in New Mexico, but I'm excited to learn a lot and meet new friends and that I get to see Dad and you and Will and Sam more often."

Lorelai smiles at her, "And we're happy to see you." At that moment, Luke comes into the room, holding Sam in his arms.

"Hey, you ready to meet your sister?" He asks April. April gets up and walks over to Luke. Luke gently passes the baby to her.

April smiles down at Sam and says, "She really looks just like you, Dad." Luke smiles, happy to see his two daughters together. "So, Liz called when I was upstairs, she says she wants to have all of us over for dinner tonight."

Lorelai nods and says: "Oh, sure, that would be nice."

"Yeah, it would be." April agrees, not having seen Liz in a long time.

That evening, Luke, Lorelai, April and the kids all head over to Liz and T.J.'s house. Once they get there, Liz greets them at the door. She immediately pulls Luke into a hug.  
"Hi big brother."

"Hey Liz." He replies. Lorelai comes in behind Luke, carrying Sam in her car seat. Will walking next to her, and April behind him. Once Liz has let go of Luke, she asks Lorelai if she can hold Sam. Lorelai takes Sam out of the car seat and passes her to Liz.  
"Hi Aunt Liz. How are you?" April greets Liz.

"April! Oh my God! I haven't seen you in forever. You look so much taller! Did you grow? Come here, we need to catch up!" Liz replies, taking very fast. April grins at her, and before they can move into the living room, five year old Doula, comes running down the stairs.  
"Yay, Uncle Luke and Aunt Lorelai are here!" She says excitedly.

"Hey kid." Luke greets her. She comes up to him and hugs his waist. Luke is startled for a second then he puts his hand on her back and her head, returning the hug.

An hour later, they all (including T.J.) sit down to eat. When Sam starts crying, Lorelai gets up and goes to her.  
"Um I think I'm going to have to go change her." She tells everyone.

"I'll do it." Luke offers, noticing that Lorelai looks tired.

"No, it's alright, hon. You eat, spend time with everyone, I'll be back in a few minutes." Lorelai tells him. Luke gives her a small smile before she leaves.

"So, April, Luke says you're going to school in New Haven?" T.J. asks April.

"Yeah, I'm thrilled to be going to school so close to everyone here." April replies.

Liz smiles and says, "April, let me tell you something. I'm so happy that a member of the Danes family is going to college. You know your dad and I both didn't go to college, our mother did, but our dad didn't. Although your last name isn't Danes, you're still part of the family and I'm so proud of you."

April grins, "Well thank you for saying that Aunt Liz, I'm happy that I found Dad and that I get to have all of you in my life. I just wish I could have met my grandparents."

Luke grins at this: "They would have loved you. I remember my dad saying how he wished he could have seen me have a kid before he died."  
Lorelai returns then. She sits back down after putting Sam back in her seat. "Aunt Lorelai, can I hold the baby?" Doula asks.

"Sure, after dinner we can sit down and you can hold her." Lorelai tells her.

After they finish eating, everyone sits in the living room. Liz shows April a few pictures of her grandparents. Doula holds Sam while Lorelai and Luke watch her. T.J. plays with Will. An hour later Lorelai, Luke, April and the kids leave. Doula hugs everyone goodbye. Liz hugs April and Lorelai.

Later that night before Luke and Lorelai go to sleep, Lorelai asks him, "So, how are you feeling?"

"About what?" Luke asks, confused.

"About April going to college in a few days, are you sad that she grew up so fast? That's how I felt when I left Rory at Yale."

"Oh, well I do feel like time flew by… I mean I've only known her for a few years but those years have been great. I'm proud to call her my kid and I'm happy that she's going to school nearby. When I drop her off at her dorm, it'll probably sink in that she's so grown up and I'll feel upset… or something but I'm fine right now.

"Okay. Well I'll be here if you need me."

Luke smiles, "I know and I appreciate it."

She smiles back. He gives her a kiss goodnight and turns off the light. They lie close to each other and fall asleep quickly.


	13. Chapter 13

The time had come; Luke was leaving April at her dorm. They had just returned from doing some last minute shopping and now they were saying goodbye.  
"Well, I guess this is it." Luke mutters.

"Yeah… and before you ask, yes I have everything I need and I'll call Mom after you leave." April tells him.

Luke nods, "Okay, um well… have a good time and study hard. I'll see you in a couple weeks." He holds out his arms and April steps into his embrace. She rests her head on his shoulder and he remembers how he used to be able to rest his chin on top of her head. He realizes how much she's grown in the past few years, not just physically, but also how much their relationship has grown. Although he doesn't feel like they've made up for the years he's lost with her, he feels grateful for the relationship they have now. He quickly kisses the top of her head before she pulls away.

She smiles at him; "Bye Dad. I love you."

"Bye. I love you too." He turns around and walks to his truck.

"Drive safe!" She calls out after him.

On the drive home, he thinks about what Lorelai said about April growing up so fast. Then he thinks about Will and Sam, hoping that the years don't fly by with them. He wants to enjoy seeing them just be kids for a while. When he returns home, Lorelai is waiting for him in the living room.  
"Hey." She greets him.

"Hey." He says back.

"Come here." She says, standing up. When he gets to her, she wraps her arms around him. He relaxes in her arms and stays in them for a little bit.

"So, how do you feel?" She asks when she pulls away.

"I'm fine, just missing her already. I guess I just got used to having her around these past few days."  
Lorelai nods, understanding how he feels.

"Where are the kids?" He asks.

"They're both napping." She tells him. Lorelai's cell phone rings at that moment. She looks at the caller ID, "It's Rory." She tells Luke. He nods, telling her to answer it. She goes into the kitchen. 

Twenty minutes later, Lorelai comes running to Luke. "She's engaged!" She shouts.

"What?" Luke asks, confused.

"Rory, she's engaged! Jeremy proposed and she said yes!"  
Rory had been seeing her boyfriend (now fiancé) for over a year. He had met Lorelai and Luke a couple times.

"Oh, wow that's great." Luke replies.

"I know. It's so exciting, my daughter is getting married! Oh! Maybe I can be her Matron of Honour… or maybe she'll ask Lane… I didn't even ask her yet… and oh! Will can be the ring bearer!"  
Luke just smiles at her, happy to see her so excited and he's happy for Rory too.  
Lorelai smiles back, then frowns. "Oh, hon I'm sorry, I got all excited about Rory I forgot about you, do you want to talk about April?" She asks.

"No, I'm fine. Call Rory back, I'll go see if the kids are awake yet."

"Okay, thanks." She gives him a quick kiss then leaves the room again to go call Rory.

A Couple Months Later

It was an unordinary day for Lorelai, she woke up before Luke. It was also a special day; it was Luke's forty-seventh birthday. She knows he doesn't particularly enjoy birthdays, so she hasn't planned anything special and she just bought him a couple simple presents. She leaves the room for a few minutes to check if Will is still sleeping and he is, so is Sam. She lies back down on the bed and watches Luke sleep for a minute before deciding to wake him up, although she anticipates that he will be grumpy. She gently shakes his shoulders and he groans but doesn't open his eyes. She kisses his scruffy cheek.  
"Morning." She whispers.  
He opens his eyes and stares at her.  
She smiles, "Hey, it's November eighth, did you forget? It's your birthday, babe. Happy birthday!"

"No I didn't forget I just don't like birthdays." He tells her.

"Aww, but they're fun… at least for me and Rory they've always been fun."

Luke frowns then says: "Well sure they're fun when you a kid, but when you're an adult you just get older each year… and everyone feels like they have to be nice to you just because it's your birthday and people buy you things that you don't even have use for…" He stops when he sees Lorelai's expression.  
"But thanks for saying happy birthday." He quickly kisses her forehead then gets up out of the bed and goes to the bathroom. 

Twenty minutes later, he walks into the kitchen to find Lorelai feeding Sam, and Will eating cereal. Lorelai gasps when she sees him.  
"What?" He asks, astonished.

"It's just that your face… it's visible… you shaved."

"It's not that shocking, I shave sometimes."

"Yeah, I know, but you always have at least a little stubble."

"What? You don't like it?" He asks, sounding offended.

"No hon, I'm just not used to it. I like your face, shaved or unshaved." She tells him with a smile.

Luke just rolls his eyes. "I'm going to head to the diner, I told Caesar I'd open."

"Oh, um wait, first I want to give you your presents." She tells him.

"Okay." He nods and gives her a small smile. She hands him Sam and leaves the room. He sits down and finishes giving her the bottle.

"Hi Daddy." Will greets him between bites of his cereal.

Luke smiles, "Hey buddy."

Lorelai returns carrying a gift bag. "Here you go." She passes it to Luke and he gives Sam to her. He opens the bag and removes a gift card for a fishing/camping supply store and a pair of jeans. "Thanks." He says simply.

"You're welcome." She responds. He stands up and she follows him to the front door.

"You're not going to eat before you go?" She asks him.

"No. I'm not really hungry; I'll just take a lunch break later."  
Lorelai just nods in response. He leans down and kisses Sam's forehead. He turns to walk out the door.

"Hey, what about my goodbye kiss?" Lorelai teases him.

"Sorry." He mumbles then gives her a quick peck on the lips. 

"Bye." She calls after him.

Luke returns that evening to find Lorelai and Will eating pizza.

"Hi hon, how was work?" Lorelai asks him.

"It was fine, Liz and T.J. came in and wished me a happy birthday… then Kirk got on my nerves… he asked me when I'm going to retire and if he can take over the diner when I do. He reminded me how he opened "Kirk's" when _he _crashed a car into my diner. He seems to think I'm older than I actually am or something or that I lost my mind… I'm not retiring anytime soon and I'd never sell the diner to him!" He shouts the last part.

"What? Kirk? Running Luke's? I can't even imagine that. There's no way could make coffee as good as yours." She smiles at him, "So do you want to join us, I got some whole wheat crust, veggie pizza for you."

"No, thanks, but I feel really tired so I'm just going to go lie down for while if that's alright with you." He replies.

"Sure." She tells him. He flashes her a smile then heads upstairs.

A couple hours later, Lorelai heads to the bedroom and finds Luke fast asleep. She starts gathering dirty clothes to do laundry. Luke opens his eyes and sits up. Lorelai notices this.  
"Hey did you sleep well?" She asks.

"Yeah. How long was I asleep?"

"A couple of hours. I put the kids to bed."

"Oh, you should have woken me up, I would have helped." He tells her.

"It's fine. You look like you needed the sleep." She sits next to him on the bed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Are you okay? You seemed a little… off this morning." She asks.

He sighs, "Yeah it's just… I feel… old."

She giggles. "What? Luke, you're not old."

"I don't know, I've just been feeling so tired lately and… I shaved this morning because I saw that my hair started looking greyer and I'm balding… and…" He trails off when

Lorelai puts a hand on his knee, "Hey. You're not old. Forty seven is not old and you're still very handsome to me."

He smiles softly at her then looks down. "Also… I don't know if I should be worried about this… but my dad… he was forty seven when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and I might g-" She interrupts him,

"Luke, you're not going to get cancer."

"How do you know that? Cancer can be genetic, Lorelai. My dad wasn't diagnosed until it was in a late stage and he died months later."

Lorelai felt tears welling up in her eyes; she didn't like talking about this. "Well, Luke if you're that worried about it maybe you should see a doctor, get a physical."

"Yeah that's probably not a bad idea." He replies and he looks at her to see her tears running down her face.

"Lorelai… I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you talking about this. I just think about it sometimes and now that I'm at the age my dad was when he died I'm a little scared, but I'm sorry if I made you upset."

Lorelai nods, "It's alright; I just… can't imagine living without you."

Luke wraps his arm around her and pulls her close. "I can't imagine living without you either. I love you."

"I love you too." She lifts her head up and he meets her halfway for a kiss. Soon, their kissing becomes passionate and they end up making love.

Author's note: Sorry if that part about Rory getting engaged seemed random, this story is about Lorelai and Luke, but I wanted Rory to be happy to and I can't imagine her getting back together with Dean, Jess or Logan so I gave her new guy


	14. Chapter 14

A few days later, Luke went to see the doctor. A little less than a week after that he receives the results and they're normal. The doctor also told him that it was very unlikely that he would get cancer.

Rory returned to Stars Hollow for Christmas that year. The whole family traveled to the airport to pick her up. Lorelai saw Rory walking towards them first. She grinned as soon as Rory noticed her. Rory started walking faster, and soon Lorelai and Rory collided in a big hug.  
When they pulled apart, Lorelai asked: "How was your flight? And, oh how does it feel to be twenty eight?" Rory wasn't able to come home for Thanksgiving or her birthday that year, so Lorelai hadn't seen her in months.

"It was fine. You asked me about being twenty eight on the phone the other day, remember? I don't really feel any older… anyways I thought you'd ask to see my ring as soon as you saw me." Rory replies.

Lorelai gasps "Oh, that's right… I haven't even seen your ring in person! Give me your hand."  
Rory holds out her hand to Lorelai and she gawks the ring for a full minute. Luke comes up behind them and clears his throat.  
"Luke! Hi, how are you?" Rory asks.

"Hey Rory. I'm good, you?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

Lorelai turns to face Luke and says: "Hey Luke, I'm sorry to tell you this, but this ring has the one you gave me beat by a long shot." Luke just rolls his eyes, knowing that she's just trying to tease him. Lorelai smiles, "But don't worry, hon. I still love you."  
Rory greets Will while Luke goes to get Rory's luggage.

When they return home, they're surprised to find Richard's car in the driveway. After Luke pulls in behind them, they watch Richard and Emily get out of the car. Lorelai and Rory get out of the car as Luke moves to the backseat to take Will and Sam out of their car seats.  
"Rory! Welcome home!" Richard greets Rory as she and Lorelai approach them.

"Hi Grandpa." She gives him a quick hug.

"Rory! Your mother told me that you're engaged. How could you get engaged to a man that your grandfather and I have never met?" Emily demands, a scowl on her face.  
Lorelai gives Rory an apologetic look as Will comes running up to her;

"Mommy! Can we go have hot chocolate?" He asks.

"Sure, honey." They go inside together. Luke comes up behind Rory, carrying Sam.

"Um, Grandma…why don't we go inside and catch up." Rory says to Emily. They both head inside.

"Luke, how are you, son?" Richard asks Luke.

"I'm good, thanks." Luke responds.

"And how is little Samantha here?"

"She's good too… do you mind taking her inside so I can get Rory's bags?" Luke asks.

"Sure." Richard replies and Luke passes Sam to him. "Hi sweetheart." Richard whispers to her. Luke turns around and walks back to the car. 

When Luke walks into the house, he hears Rory telling Emily, "Grandma, Jeremy and I live in Chicago and he works and I work, so it would be really hard for us to both have time off at the same time to come here so he could meet you."

"Well, you're mother and Luke have met him." Emily replies.

"That's because they came to visit for a day."  
Luke doesn't hear Emily's response, as he walks out of hearing distance. He finds Lorelai and Will in the kitchen, sitting at the table drinking hot chocolate.  
Before Luke can ask where Richard and Sam are, Lorelai tells him: "My dad is putting Sam down for her nap." Luke smiles. He's happy that their relationship with Lorelai's parents is better than it was a few years ago.  
"Alright, I'm going to take Rory's bags upstairs and call April to make sure she got home okay."  
Lorelai nods and Luke leaves the room.

A half an hour later, Luke returns downstairs to find Emily and Richard leaving. After they walk out the door, Lorelai tells Luke, "So, we're going to their Christmas party tomorrow."

"Oh? But I thought you couldn't get a babysitter for the kids?"

"Grandma said they can come since it will just be family." Rory tells him.  
Luke just nods.

"So, how's April? Does she like college?" Rory asks Luke.

"She's great and she loves it. She made a few new friends and she really enjoys all her classes."  
"That's great." Rory says with a smile.

"Oh, and she told me that she has a boyfriend." Lorelai says.

Luke frowns at her, "When did she tell you that? She didn't mention it to me."

Lorelai grins, "She texted me the other day, I don't think she told you because she probably thinks you'll freak out. But she never said that I couldn't tell you."

Luke thinks for a few seconds before replying. "She could have told me, I'm not mad or anything… I just don't want her to be with a guy that doesn't treat her right…" He mutters

Lorelai smiles softly at him: "I know, you're just a protective dad and I think that's great."  
Rory remembers how Luke acted when he found out that Dean broke up with her and when he and Lorelai found her with Logan at Richard and Emily's vow renewal.  
"Hey Luke, April's lucky to have you as a dad… so are Will and Sam" Rory tells him sincerely.  
Luke flashes her a smile.

Later that night, Lorelai notices that Luke still seems a little upset.  
"Luke, I'm sure April wanted to tell you, she was probably just waiting for the right opportunity."

"I know, I was just thinking about what it will be like when Sam starts to date."

"Oh, no… that won't be for years, I'm not ready for her to grow up. She can't grow up as fast as Rory did, I won't allow it." Lorelai says.

Luke smiles at her "I feel the same way, how about we don't let her date until she's thirty?"

Lorelai returns his smile, "I don't think she'll like that, but it sounds like a plan."  
He lies down next to her on the bed and she leans in to kiss him goodnight. He turns off the light and they drift off to sleep.

Author's note: Thanks for reading, following, and reviewing this story.


	15. Chapter 15

A Few Months Later (April 26th)

Luke woke up and immediately looked next to him to find Lorelai fast asleep. He removes his arm from around her waist and gets up out of bed. His cellphone beeps. He picks it up from the nightstand and turns on the screen. A message was on the screen, a reminder: _Don't forget Lorelai's birthday today. _It said. He did forget… he didn't get anything. He checks the time; it's just after 7:00. Lorelai will need to be up in about a half hour to get ready for work. He quickly decides to go to the store to get a present for her. He sets the alarm clock to make sure she wakes up if he's not back on time. He also checks on Sam and Will, who are still sleeping.

Lorelai awakens to the sound of the alarm clock. She frowns, surprised to hear it as Luke usually wakes her up. She gets out of bed and goes to the bathroom. A few minutes later, she goes into Sam's room to find her awake, not crying. She picks up Sam and quickly changes her diaper before walking to Will's room. Will is still sleeping so she leaves him there.  
"Luke?" She calls out, expecting him to answer her, but she hears no response. She walks into the kitchen and is surprised that Luke isn't there either. She looks around the kitchen for a note but doesn't find one. She puts Sam in her high chair and pours juice in a sippy cup and puts it in front of Sam. As she starts preparing breakfast, she hears the front door open. Luke walks into the kitchen a minute later.  
"Hey, where were you?" Lorelai asks him.

"I was getting you these. Happy Birthday." Luke replies, pulling a bouquet of flowers from behind his back and he holds out an envelope in his other hand.

Lorelai grins, "Oh, hon you didn't have to get me anything. Thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiles back. She sets the flowers down and takes the card out of the envelope.

"To: My wonderful wife." She reads the front of the card out loud and looks at him with a surprised expression. He's doesn't usually buy a card, especially not ones that say mushy things. She smiles when she sees that he signed it: _Love, Luke. _  
"Aww, you're such a softy Luke." She says.

He just rolls his eyes and asks: "So you like the flowers then?"

"Yeah, of course. They're beautiful."

He steps closer to her and leans down to kiss her softly. "Mmm" She murmurs against his lips. She kisses him back, deepening the kiss. After a few seconds, he pulls back, smiles and says: "You better get ready for work."

She frowns and says: "Way to kill the mood." She sighs, "I have to work on my birthday… so much fun… not."  
He just gives her a sad smile before she leaves the room.

Twenty minutes later, Lorelai stands at the door and kisses Will, Sam and Luke goodbye.  
That evening, Lorelai returns home from work and immediately walks up to Luke and hugs him.  
He rubs her back and asks: "Long day?" She nods into his shoulder. He kisses her forehead before she lets go of him.  
"I'm so tired I feel like I'm going to fall asleep at the table if I sit down." She tells him.

"Go get some sleep. I can handle the kids." He replies.

"Okay." She immediately agrees. "Thanks, babe." She gives him a quick kiss before going upstairs.

A Few Weeks Later

On the morning of Samantha's first birthday, Luke wakes up earlier than usual. He gets up and puts on his blue hat, he feels a little weird not wearing it every day, and then he goes to Sam's room. He finds her still fast asleep. He watches her sleep with a smile on her face. A few minutes later, she wakes up and stretches. He picks her up and carries her over to the changing table. Luke changes her diaper then carries her over to the rocking chair and sits down. He holds her under her arms and stands her on his lap. He smiles at her and she looks back at him before reaching up and touches his hat. He gently takes her hand in his and brings it to his mouth to kiss it.  
"How sweet." He hears Lorelai's voice from the doorway. He looks over to see her standing there with a smile on her face.

"How long were you standing there?" He asks her.

"Long enough to see that sweet moment. How's the birthday girl?"

Luke gazes down at Sam and says: "She seems happy."

Lorelai walks into the room, "That's probably because she has a great daddy." She tells

Luke. Luke smirks at her, "Well, she has a great mom too."

Lorelai walks over to him and holds out her arms, wanting to hold Sam. He passes Sam to her and she holds her in front of her and whispers "Happy birthday, sweets."

Luke raises his eyebrows at her and says: "I thought it wasn't officially her birthday until it's the exact time she was born…. noon wasn't it?"

Lorelai shakes her head, "It was twelve oh four and yeah, but that's only a few hours away anyway."

Luke nods, "What are you doing up so early anyway? I thought you'd want to sleep in on your day off."

"Well I woke up to go to the bathroom and I saw you weren't there so I decided you come find you since the bed feels a little empty without you so I didn't want to go back to sleep." She tells him.

He gives her a small smile and stands up. She passes Sam back to him and says, "I'm gonna go check on Will, you can give her breakfast if you want."  
He nods and follows her out of the room.

Twenty minutes later, Lorelai comes downstairs to find Luke and Sam in the living room. Luke is sitting on the couch and Sam is playing on the floor. She sits next to Luke.  
"Will has a small fever. I calmed him down and he fell back asleep." Lorelai tells Luke.

"Oh, I was wondering why you two hadn't come downstairs." Luke replies.

"Yeah, he should be fine… can you believe that he's starting kindergarten in a few months? And Sam's already one…"

"I know, these past few years have flew by. I feel like every parent probably says this, but I feel a little sad that they're growing up too fast…" He laughs a little. "They won't need me in a few years."

"Luke, they'll always need your advice and support and… just your love. You're their father; they'll always look up to you." She tells him, reaching out to rub his arm.

Luke nods, "But when they get to be April's age and go to college, they won't need us as much, and that makes me feel… I don't know a little sad I guess."

"Hey, we have years before they're that age. Let's just enjoy right now." Lorelai responds.

Luke smiles and drapes his arm over her shoulder. "Come here." He whispers.

Lorelai raises her eyebrows at him and moves to sit on his lap, "Here?" She asks, a flirty tone to her voice. He nods and tilts his head up to kiss her. They kiss for a bit before Lorelai pulls away and looks over at Sam to see her standing up. She gasps, "Is she gonna walk?"  
Luke takes his eyes off Lorelai and looks at Sam. Sam takes the tiniest step and falls. She immediately starts crying. Lorelai slides off Luke's lap and he gets up and gets to Sam first, bends down and picks her up. "It's okay, sweetie." He whispers to her and kisses the top of her head. Lorelai smiles and walks over to them. She puts a hand on Sam's head and runs her hand down her short brown hair. Luke puts his other arm around Lorelai's waist and they stand there for a little while, enjoying spending time with their daughter.


	16. Chapter 16

Two Months Later- Day of Rory's Wedding

Lorelai was the Matron of honour, Will was the ring bearer and Christopher walked Rory down the aisle. At the reception, after Rory shared a dance with her husband then a father/daughter one with Christopher, she came over Luke and Lorelai's table.

"Rory!" Lorelai stood and pulled her daughter into a hug. "I can't believe you're married! Can you believe it?"

Rory shook her head, "It's surreal… I'm just so happy."

Lorelai smiled, "Aww, that's how I felt when I finally married this one." She gestures to Luke.

Rory smiles, "Actually I came over here to ask Luke if I can steal him for a dance."

Luke raises his eyebrows at Rory. "You want to dance with me?" He asks.

"Yeah, I thought I'd be nice." Rory smiles shyly.

"Sure." Luke replies. He lifts Will off his lap and sets him on a chair then follows Rory to the dance floor.

Lorelai watches them dance with a smile. After the song ends, Rory gives Luke a hug.  
"Thanks, Luke… um you know I've never really said this before, but, I've always thought of you as a sort of second father to me."

Luke smiles softly at her, "Thanks Rory."

Rory smiles back, "And I know how happy you make Mom. Thanks for that too."

Luke just smiles again, not knowing what to say.

"Oh, I have to go tell the D.J. something." Rory says and she rushes off. Luke returns to the table.

A few minutes later, Rory announces something from the D.J. booth. "This song is for my grandparents, I wouldn't be where I am today without them. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa." Wedding Bell Blues by The 5th Dimension began playing. Richard and Emily get up out of their seats and move to the dance floor.

After that song ended, Rory spoke again: "And now a song for my Mom and stepdad, you two are everything to me and your love inspires me every day. Thank you for always being there." Reflecting Light by Sam Philips began playing. Lorelai gasps and looks over at Luke. Luke grins at her and stands up and holds his hand out to her. "You wanna dance?" Richard comes over at that moment to take Will.

"Sure." Lorelai replies and she takes Luke's hand. She remembers when they first danced to this song at Liz's wedding. She was nervous then, but she also felt comfortable in Luke's arms. Now, she feels at ease and safe in Luke's arms.

A Few Weeks Later- Will's First Day of School

"Bye Will. Be good for your teacher." Lorelai tells Will as they stand in the doorway of the classroom. She picks him up and holds him tightly. After a few seconds, she puts him down and tells him to give Luke a hug. Will hugs Luke's legs and Luke ruffles his hair and says: "Bye, buddy. Have a good day." After that, Will turns around and walks into the classroom.

Lorelai and Luke stand and watch him for a few seconds.  
"Ready to go?" Luke asks.

"Hmm… oh, yeah." Lorelai mutters, still watching Will.

"It's only a few hours. He'll be fine, Lorelai." Luke tells her as they start to walk away.

"I know." Lorelai responds. Luke looks at her face and sees tears welling in her eyes.

Once they get to the parking lot, Luke stops walking and Lorelai stops behind him.  
"Come here." Luke says in a gruff voice and he reaches out and pulls her into his arms. Lorelai holds onto him and cries a little. She pulls back after about a minute.

"You okay?" Luke asks.

"Yeah. I'm just going to miss him… and he's so big…he's never going to be a little baby again… and time is going by too fast."

Luke nods. "I know what you mean. But it's good that he's in school, where he'll be around kids his own age. It's okay if you're sad though. I understand and I'm here for you."

Lorelai nods. "I know, hon. Thanks. Um can you drive me to the Inn? I almost forgot, I told Sookie she could have the day off. And the work distracts me from thinking about Will."

"Okay." Luke replies. They get in the truck and drive to the Dragonfly.

"Thanks for the ride." Lorelai says when they arrive.

"Anytime." Luke responds. Lorelai leans in a gives him a kiss goodbye.

Later that day, when Lorelai comes home, she immediately finds Will and asks him if he had fun at school. Will just nods and smiles. Lorelai smiles and kisses the top of his head. Luke enters the room, holding Sam in his arms.  
"Aww there's my little girl." Lorelai says with a grin on her face. Luke passes Sam to her. "How was she today?" She asks.

"Good. She took a long nap, so I got some housework done." Luke replies. "How was the Inn?"

"Alright, not too busy. I went to the diner for lunch and let me tell you, Caesar's burgers or coffee aren't half as good as yours are."

Luke just responds with a nod, taking the compliment.

"Oh and Rory called to catch up a bit. It was nice to hear from her. She said that she'll visit for Thanksgiving this year." Lorelai tells him.

"Great. April's also coming, so the whole family will be together."

"Yeah that will be nice." Lorelai responds with a smile.

That night after they put the kids to bed, Luke and Lorelai enjoy some quality time together, cuddling on the couch together, watching a movie.

Author's note: Thank you for reading, reviewing, following and favouriting.


	17. Chapter 17

A Couple Weeks Later

Luke's cell phone is ringing. He looks at the caller I.D., its April. He answers:  
"Hey, April."

"Hi Dad, how's it going?"

"Good, how about you? How's school?"

"I'm good. School's fine. How are Lorelai and the kids doing?"

"They're good."

"That's good… so Dad, I was just wondering, when was the last time you and Lorelai had a night alone?"

Luke frowns, thinking for a few seconds. "Um… I don't know. It's been a while I guess. Why?"

"Well, isn't your anniversary coming up?" April asks.

"Yeah, it's this Friday. It's our… sixth anniversary."

"Yeah… so I thought I could watch Will and Sam for a couple hours and you can take Lorelai out."

"Oh, um… I don't know… Well, I guess it would be nice to surprise Lorelai." Luke replies after thinking for a few seconds.

"Yeah, you two deserve to get out of the house every once and while. I know you go to Emily and Richard's house for dinner every other week, but that's not the same as being alone." April says.

"Okay. Do you want me to come and pick you up on Friday?" Luke asks.

"Yeah," April replies.

"Okay. I'll have Caesar close for me."

"Okay. I'll see you on Friday, Dad. Love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

Friday Morning

Luke wakes up first and goes to check up on Sam. He hears her crying as he walks in the hallway. When he gets to her room, he immediately walks over to her crib and picks her up. He holds her and calms her down. About half an hour later, after making breakfast, Luke goes back to the master bedroom to wake up Lorelai. He carries Sam, who is resting her head on his shoulder and holds a mug of coffee in his other hand. Luke sets the coffee on the nightstand and gently rubs Lorelai's shoulder to wake her up. Lorelai groans and opens her eyes.  
"Morning." Luke whispers.

Lorelai gives him a small smile, "Morning." She gets up and goes to the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, Lorelai comes downstairs. "Hey, I forgot before, happy anniversary." She winks at Luke.

"Yeah, happy anniversary." Luke says with a nod.

Lorelai walks over to Will, who's eating breakfast at the table. "You almost done, buddy? It's time to get ready for school." She tells him.

"Done." Will says as he finishes his cereal and pushes the bowl away. He gets off the chair and Lorelai takes him upstairs to help him get ready. Ten minutes later, they come back downstairs.

"I'll drive him to school; it's on the way to the diner." Luke says.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you're working today." Lorelai responds, sounding a little sad.

"I'll be home sooner than later." Luke tells her, although he would be going to pick up April later.

Luke kisses Sam's cheek and passes her to Lorelai. As soon as Sam is in Lorelai's arms, she starts crying.  
"Aww, honey it's okay. Daddy will be back later." Lorelai tells her. Luke frowns and holds out his arms. Lorelai hands Sam back to him. Sam stops crying once Luke holds her close.

"I think she's attached." Lorelai says.

"I guess so. She's never really been clingy before though." Luke replies.

"She's daddy's little girl." Lorelai says with a smile. Luke smiles back then kisses Sam again. He holds her for another minute before handing her back to Lorelai. Sam cries again.

"It's alright, honey… shh." Lorelai whispers to her. Luke reaches out and runs his hand down Sam's short hair. Sam looks at her dad, still crying.

"Sammy, it's okay. Daddy will come home." Will says suddenly. Luke smiles down at him and bends down to pick him up. Will reaches out and pats Sam's head gently. Luke sets Will down and kisses Sam one more time. Her crying settles down a little.

"Just go, hon, we'll be fine. I'll cheer her up." Lorelai tells Luke. Luke nods and gives Lorelai two quick kisses goodbye.  
Lorelai smiles, "Bye, have a good day at school, Will."

"Bye Mommy!" Will calls out as he walks out the door.

Later That Day

Luke returns home with Will and April. Lorelai comes to the front door, holding Sam.

"I was just about to call you… oh, April! I didn't know you were coming. How are you?" Lorelai walks over to April.

"Hi Lorelai. I'm good thanks, and you?" April replies.

"I'm good." Luke comes over and takes Sam from Lorelai as Will runs up and hugs her. Sam smiles up at Luke and Lorelai picks up Will.

"How was school?" Lorelai asks Will.

"Good." Will replies with a smile.

"Hey, Lorelai, April's here to babysit for us. Um, she offered to help so we could have a night out." Luke tells Lorelai.

"Oh, April. That's so sweet of you, but you don't have to." Lorelai says.

"I want to. Dad says that you two haven't had a night out in a while. I think you deserve one." April replies.

"That is true…" Lorelai admits.

Luke nods and says: "I kind of planned something too."

"Okay." Lorelai agrees to go. She hugs April. "Thank you, sweetie."

"You're welcome." April says when Lorelai pulls away.

"I should change first." Lorelai says, gesturing to her outfit, a t-shirt and jeans.

"You look fine. We're not going anywhere fancy anyway." Luke tells her.

"Oh, okay fine." Lorelai says. Luke hands Sam to April and Lorelai kisses Will and Sam goodbye. Luke thanks April before him and Lorelai head out the door.

They pull up to the diner and Luke gets out of the truck and walks to the passenger side to open Lorelai's door.

"Uh, the diner?" Lorelai asks, surprised.

"Um… yeah sorry, I didn't have a lot of time to plan something big. I thought we'd just have a nice dinner in the apartment if that's okay." Luke replies.

"Okay." Lorelai shrugs her shoulders and gives him a small smile.

After dinner, Luke gets up and walks over to the CD player which is sitting on the coffee-table. Lorelai frowns, wondering what he's doing, but she doesn't ask. She watches as he picks up a CD and puts in in the player and presses a few buttons. A song begins to play, and Lorelai recognizes it almost immediately. She gasps. Luke grins at her.

"Yeah, um Rory's wedding reminded me of this song… you wanna dance?" Luke says.

Lorelai gets up and walks over to Luke. "Who are you and what have you done with Luke Danes? When did you become so romantic?" She asks him.

Luke frowns, "Hey, I can be romantic sometimes… if I want to…" he reaches out and takes her hand. Lorelai puts her other hand on his shoulder and he wraps his around her waist. They slowly sway to the music.

"How did you get the song?" Lorelai whispers.

"Um… I asked Liz what the title was and April helped me burn it to a CD…" Luke mutters.

Lorelai just smiles and moves her head to his shoulder.

"Can you believe that we've already been married for six years?" Lorelai asks.

"No, I remember it like it was yesterday. And now Rory's married… I guess time really does fly by." Luke says.

"Yeah, I bet you still remember going to Rory's caterpillar's funeral too." Lorelai says with a giggle.

"Yeah I remember it a little…" Luke mutters.

The song ends shortly after that. Luke pulls away a little and looks Lorelai in the eye. She looks back. He cups her face in his hands and kisses her slowly. Lorelai deepens the kiss; they only pull apart to break for air.

"Can we… stay longer?" Lorelai asks.

Luke checks his watch, "I'm sure April is fine. Another half hour or so should be okay." He tells her.

Lorelai smiles and starts unbuttoning his flannel. Once the flannel and her t-shirt is off, he leads her to the bed. Luke holds himself over Lorelai and leaves a trail of kisses from her head to her belly button. She places a hand on his cheek to bring his lips back to hers.

Afterwards, they lie snuggled together. Lorelai lifts her head from his chest and says, "I love you."

"I love you too." Luke says. They lie in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before going back home.


	18. Chapter 18

Two and a Half Years Later

It's a warm, sunny day outside. Lorelai is outside with the kids, watching them ride their bikes up and down the driveway. All of a sudden, Samantha loses her balance and falls off her tricycle. She immediately bursts into tears. Lorelai rushes over and helps her up. She examines Sam's body for any injures and sees that her knee is a bit scraped. Sam is still crying so Lorelai gets Will to stop biking and they go inside.

Inside, Lorelai takes Sam to the bathroom and gets a Barbie Band-Aid from the cabinet. She gently presses the Band-Aid to Sam's knee. Sam watches her, but she doesn't stop crying once the Band-Aid is on.  
"Do you want me to kiss it better?" Lorelai asks.

"No… Sam whines, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I want… Daddy to kiss it,"

Lorelai sighs, "But Daddy's not here, honey. Daddy's at the diner, he's working."

Sam continues to cry and murmurs, "I… want… Daddy."

Lorelai frowns, then gives Sam a small smile. "Okay. Why don't we go visit Daddy for lunch? He can make you a yummy grilled cheese. But, you have to promise me that you'll stop crying first."

Sam nods. Lorelai reaches out and wipes at Sam's tears with the pads of her thumbs. "Okay, let's go." She finds Will sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"Will, come on. We're going to the diner for lunch." Lorelai tells him.

"Okay." Will replies. He turns off the TV and gets up and walks over to Lorelai and Sam. Lorelai picks up Sam and carries her to the car. Will gets in the car as Lorelai puts Sam in her car seat.

Ten minutes later, they arrive at the diner. Will walks in front of Lorelai and Sam and opens the door. He holds it open as Lorelai and Sam walk in. "Thank you, sweetie." Lorelai says with a smile. Sam runs behind the counter and shouts "Daddy!"

Lorelai sees that Luke is pouring coffee into a customer's mug at a table in the back corner of the diner. Luke looks up when he hears Sam's voice. He meets Lorelai's eyes and she gestures behind the counter. Luke finishes pouring the coffee and walks behind the counter. "Sam? What are you doing behind the counter?" He asks when he sees her. Sam grins and runs over to him. "Daddy!" She wraps her small arms around his legs. He picks her up. "Daddy, I fell of my bike and got hurt." Luke frowns and sets her on the counter. "Look… see?" Sam points to her knee. "Kiss it, Daddy?" She asks.

Luke looks up to see Lorelai, Miss Patty and Babette and the other customer staring at him. "Aw jeez." He whispers. "Daddy?" Sam asks, sounding upset. Luke smiles down at her and leans down and quickly presses a kiss on top of Sam's Band-Aid.

"How sweet. He's really like a big teddy bear, isn't he, Lorelai?" Luke hears Miss Patty ask Lorelai.

Lorelai nods, "He's the sweetest when no one's around. I don't know why he's so grumpy when he's in public."

Luke rolls his eyes. His attention is brought back to Sam when she says: "Daddy, can I have a grilled cheese?"

"Sure, sweetie," Luke replies.

Lorelai walks over to the counter with Will. "She wanted you to kiss her boo-boo, so I figured we could just come here for lunch. I don't know what I'd end up feeding them if we stayed home."

Luke nods, knowing that Lorelai isn't handy in the kitchen. "Okay, go grab a table." He picks up Sam and sets her on the floor. Lorelai and Will sit down at a table and Sam and Luke walk over to them. Luke helps Sam into a chair. Once she's sitting, he asks Will what he wants to eat. "Um, chicken nuggets and fries and… a vanilla milkshake, please." Will says. Luke nods and asks Lorelai what she wants. "A cheeseburger and chili fries and coffee." Lorelai replies with a smile. Luke sighs; he hasn't been able to convince Lorelai to change her eating habits after all these years. "All right, coming right up." Luke says and he walks back to the kitchen.

While waiting for their food, Lorelai and the kids chat with Miss Patty and Babette. Twenty minutes later, Luke comes back carrying the kids' food. He sets the plates down and turns around and walks back to get Lorelai's food. When he comes back and sets down Lorelai's plate and coffee, Lorelai touches his arm and says: "Hey, hon sit down and eat with us."

"I already ate, and I need to serve the customers." Luke replies.

"Uh, there's no one here but Miss Patty, Babette and that guy over there. You have time to sit with us." Lorelai tells him.

"Fine." Luke replies. He sits next to Lorelai.

After they finish eating, Lorelai asks Luke: "Hey, do you remember when I gave _you _a Barbie Band-Aid?"

"Yeah, I cut my hand on your window." Luke deadpans.

Lorelai smiles, "I remember I met Liz that day and she said that I looked like your type… she thought I was your wife. It seems like everyone thought we were perfect for each other. We were like every cliché of a guy and a girl being just friends but everyone thought they should be more."

Luke nods. "I never told you this, but those earrings that I gave you at the Firelight Festival… Liz said I could give them to you, or my wife… I chose to give them to you because… well I guess I thought they'd look good on you."

Lorelai gently hits his arm, "You said Liz wanted me to have them. I never would have thought that _you _wanted me to have them. You were so pining for me when you were married to Nicole." She accuses him.

"Who's Nicole?" Will asks suddenly.

"Oh, um she was your Dad's first wife." Lorelai tells him, then regrets saying that as there's no reason for their kids to know about Nicole.

"Dad was married to another girl before he married you?" Will seems to be puzzled.

"It's complicated and it doesn't matter." Luke mutters. He doesn't want to talk about it in front of the kids and he doesn't want to think about the fact that Lorelai married Christopher.

"Okay." Will smiles and drops the subject.

A group of people walk into the diner. Lorelai stands up and gestures for the kids to do the same. "We'd better get back home."

Luke nods. "Thanks for stopping by." He says quietly.

Lorelai smiles as Sam hugs Luke's legs. Luke puts a hand on her head and ruffles her hair. "Bye Sam."

Sam lets go of Luke after a few seconds. "Bye Dad." Will says with a small wave.

"See you later, buddy." Luke says.

"Bye, doll." Lorelai leans in and quickly kisses Luke's cheek.

After Lorelai and the kids leave, Babette says. "You have yourself a sweet little family there, sugar."

Luke just gives her a knowing smile.

Two Weeks Later

Will plays baseball on the Stars Hollow Elementary team. Today is one of their first games. Luke, Lorelai and Sam sit in the bleachers and watch him.

Lorelai smiles at Luke "It's just a simple little game, but I feel so proud of him."

Luke smiles back, "Yeah. Me too."

Lorelai looks away to see Richard walking towards the bleachers, "Hey is that my dad or am I seeing things?" She asks.

Luke looks over and sees Richard. "Yeah that's him. Didn't you tell your parents that Will had a game today?"

"Yeah, but they said they were busy so I didn't expect to see either of them."

Richard makes it to the bleachers and walks over to Luke, Lorelai and Sam.

"Hello, Lorelai, Luke. Did the game start yet?" Richard asks.

"Hey, Dad, I thought you couldn't make it. The game just started. Is Mom coming too?"

"I finished my work early so I thought I'd come. You mother can't make it unfortunately. She has a D.A.R function to attend to."

"Oh, well I'm glad you could make it." Lorelai tells him.

Sam looks away from the game at that moment and notices Richard. "Hi, Gampy."

Richard smiles, "Hello, sweetheart." Are you excited to see your big brother play baseball?"

Sam just nods. They all watch the game together. When Will comes up to bat, Richard shouts, "Go, William!"

Lorelai gently puts a hand on Richard's arm and says: "Stop it Dad, you'll embarrass him."

"But I want him to know that I'm here, supporting him." Richard replies.

Lorelai smiles softly. "He knows you love him."

Richard nods, keeping his eyes on Will. After a couple strikes, Will hits the ball. Luke stands up and claps and whistles. Lorelai smiles to herself. Sam cheers, "Yay!"

Will makes it to second base. Luke sits back down and casually wraps his arm around Lorelai's shoulder. She leans into him. When his teammate hits the ball, Will runs home. Everyone cheers and claps. Will sees his family and smiles shyly at them.

After the game is over, the family goes to the field to meet Will. "Good game. You played very well." Richard tells Will.

Will frowns, "Thanks, Grandpa, but we lost."

"Hey, that's alright. You had fun playing, right? That's all that matters." Luke tells Will.

Will nods. "Yeah, I guess."

"Why don't we go and get some ice cream?" Lorelai says, trying to cheer him up a little.

"Okay. Grandpa, can you come?" Will asks.

Richard looks at his watch then smiles down at Will. "I'd like that."

Will grins and Sam grabs onto Richard's hand. "We can get cotton candy ice cream, Grampy!" She says with a smile.

Richard smiles back. "Of course, I know that's your favourite."

Richard, Will and Sam walk together in front of Luke and Lorelai.

"Are you going to get a big fat, sugar filled scoop of ice cream?" Lorelai asks Luke sarcastically, knowing that he hates ice cream because it's too sugary.

"Maybe I'll get a frozen yogurt." Luke replies. He wraps his arm around her waist and she wraps her arm around him so that her hand rests above his hip. They follow Richard and the kids to the parking lot.


	19. Chapter 19

The Following Year- Mother's Day

Luke woke up before Lorelai, as he usually did on Sundays. He went downstairs to make breakfast for Lorelai. When he's almost finishes cooking, he goes to wake the kids up. They all go to the master bedroom, Luke carrying a tray with the food on it and the kids holding cards that they made.

Luke gently taps Lorelai's shoulder to wake her up. She opens her eyes.

"Happy Mother's Day!" Will shouts, and Sam repeats him.

Lorelai smiles, "Thank you." Luke sets the tray on Lorelai's lap. "Aww, you're letting me have breakfast in bed?" She asks.

Luke just nods. "Give her your cards." He says to Will and Sam. They each hand their cards to Lorelai. She quickly reads them and smiles.

"Did you two make these at school?" She asks them.

They both nod and Lorelai reaches out to them. "Well I love them, thank you." She pulls Will then Sam onto the bed and hugs and kisses both of them. Luke smiles at the sight.

"Okay, let's let Mommy eat. I'll make pancakes for you guys." Luke says.

Sam jumps off the bed and follows Luke out the door. Will follows after he hugs Lorelai again.

About half an hour later, Lorelai comes downstairs to find Luke and the kids finishing breakfast. Luke clears the table and brings the dishes to the sink to rinse them off. Lorelai walks over to him and places a hand on his arm.

"Thanks for breakfast, hon. It was nice eating in bed for a change. I'm surprised you didn't complain about crumbs being in the bed."

"You're welcome." Luke says simply and Lorelai learns in to kiss him. They pull back after they hear Will say: "Eww, gross."

Lorelai laughs and reaches out to ruffle Will's hair. "You're going to like kissing girls one day, buddy." She tells him.

"Yeah, right," Will responds sarcastically.

Luke smirks, then goes back to rinsing the dishes. Sam gets up from the table and runs over to Lorelai. "Mommy, Daddy made me a cat shaped pancake!" She tells Lorelai.

Lorelai raises her eyebrows at Luke, but he isn't looking at her. "He did? I wish I could have seen that, but I bet you ate all the pancakes didn't you?" She teases Sam and reaches out to tickle her. Sam giggles. Luke turns around and Lorelai flashes a smile at him. He returns the smile. They all spend the rest of the day together. Rory and April both calls to wish Lorelai a happy Mother's Day.

Weeks Later

On Saturday nights, Luke, Lorelai and the kids usually watch a movie together. On this particular night, the kids were having a hard time deciding which movie to watch.

"I wanna watch Frozen." Sam announces.

"No. I don't want to watch that again, we watched it a couple weeks ago." Will complains.

"Will, it's your sister's turn to pick the movie." Lorelai tells Will in a stern voice.

"Well, I'm on Will's side. We've seen all of the princess movies too many times." Luke says.

Will grins at Luke, but Lorelai says, "It's Sam's turn to pick the movie. Besides I know you love that song, let it go, let it go." She jokes with Luke, singing the song.

Luke and Will both roll their eyes, but they give in. Lorelai turns the movie on and Will sits next to her on the couch. Luke sits next to them and Sam crawls onto his lap. Luke tickles her and she giggles, then says: "Daddy, stop." Through her giggles,

About fifteen minutes into the movie, there's a knock at the front door.  
"I'll get it." Will says and he gets up. "Oh, hi Grandma," They hear him say after a minute. Emily follows Will to the family room.

"Hi Mom," Lorelai greets Emily.

"Hello, Lorelai. I came to drop off the stuffed animal that Samantha left at the house the other night." Emily says.

Sam turns when she hears her name, "Hi Grandma. Oh! My bear, I missed him!" She gets up and runs to Emily. Emily hands her the stuffed bear and Sam hugs her. Emily is surprised, but she pats Sam's back. Sam pulls away and looks up at Emily.  
"Grandma, come watch the movie with us."

"Yeah, Mom, feel free to grab a chair. This movie is all Sam talks about so you should see it if you want to be kept in the loop." Lorelai tells her.

Emily looks down at Sam, who smiles at her. "Well I suppose I could stay for a little while."

Sam tugs on Emily's hand until she walks over to a chair and sits down. Sam climbs back on the couch and sits back on Luke's lap. Luke touches her hair affectionately.

"Luke, how are you?" Emily asks.

"I'm fine, thanks. And you, Emily?" Luke replies.

"I'm all right, thank you." Emily answers.

They watch the rest of the movie together, Emily asks a few questions about the movie, which gladly Sam answers. Sam falls asleep during the last few minutes. Emily gets up and heads to the door.  
"Bye, Mom. Thanks for staying." Lorelai calls out.

"Goodbye Lorelai. I'll see you next week for dinner." Emily says. Will says goodbye to her and she leaves.

"Go get ready for bed." Luke tells Will and he does what he's told. Lorelai scoots over to Luke and looks down at Sam.

"We should wake her up so she can walk upstairs and get ready for bed." Lorelai says.

"No. I'll take her up and put her in bed." Luke responds.

Lorelai shakes her head, "You spoil her too much. She's a big girl, she can walk."

Luke has already picked up Sam. Lorelai sees him grimace suddenly, like he's in pain.

"You okay?" She asks, concerned.

"It's nothing. My back just started hurting." Luke tells her.

"Oh, see, Sam's too big for you to carry; you should stop and let her walk." Lorelai responds.

"It's fine." Luke replies in a serious tone. He walks away, heading upstairs. Lorelai follows him. She watches as he puts Sam in her bed and tucks her in then kisses the top of her head. After that, they check on Will and find him in his bed, almost asleep. They both get ready for bed and Lorelai watches TV in bed while Luke goes to sleep.

The next morning is Father's Day, Lorelai manages to wake up before Luke and she goes to wake up the kids. She takes care of the kids to let Luke sleep in. About half an hour later Luke comes downstairs. The kids both walk over to him and hug him. Lorelai shares a smile with him.  
"Happy Father's Day," Will says and Sam repeats him.

"Thank you." Luke says and they both hand him cards. He pulls them in for another hug and tells them, "Love you." They both say it back. Luke walks over to Lorelai and kisses her cheek. "Thank you." He mutters.

"For what?" She asks with a smile.

"For… everything," He says simply.

Lorelai just grins and hugs him.


	20. Chapter 20

Eight Months Later

Lorelai is cleaning the house, when her cell phone rings. She stops sweeping and takes the phone out of her pocket. She checks the caller ID, its Emily. She answers the phone:

"Hello?"

She hears Emily sigh, sounding relieved. "Lorelai, thank god you picked up."

"Mom, what's wrong?" Lorelai asks, concerned.

"It's Rory and your father, there's been an accident."

Richard volunteered to pick Rory up from the airport, she was visiting for a few days.  
"What? What happened?" Lorelai asks frantically.

"I'm at the hospital, Lorelai. Rory and your father were in a car accident on the way home from the airport. I got a call from the hospital and rushed over. I don't even know how badly they're hurt. No one has told me anything. You need to come here now." Emily tells Lorelai.

"Oh my God, Mom… I'll be there as soon as I can." Lorelai responds.

"Okay. I'll see you soon, Lorelai." Emily says before hanging up.

As Lorelai was pressing the screen to hang up, Luke walked in the front door.  
"Hey." He greeted her.

"Oh good, Luke, you're back." Lorelai throws her arms around him, seeking comfort in his embrace.

Luke holds her. "Lorelai? Are you okay? What's wrong?" He asks, concerned.

Lorelai shakes her head in his shoulder. "Luke, my mom just called. It's Rory and my dad; they've been in an accident. They're in the hospital." She tells him.

Luke slowly pulls away from her. "What? Are they okay?" He keeps a hand on her shoulder and she grips his other hand in hers.

"I don't know, my mom just told me to go to the hospital. Luke I… need to go. Can you stay with the kids?" Her voice shook a little.

Luke nods. "Of course, go. I'll be fine with the kids."

At the moment, a shout comes from behind them, "Daddy's home!" Sam cries out. Luke and Lorelai both turn to see Sam running down the stairs. Luke smiles as she runs up to him and hugs him.  
"Hi, sweetie," Luke says as he picks her up. He holds her in his arms for about a minute then sets her down.

Sam looks up at Lorelai, "Mommy? Why are you crying?"

Lorelai comes out of the trance she was in; she flashes Sam a small smile. "I'm alright, honey. I have to go out for a little while, and Daddy is going to stay here with you and Will, okay?"

Sam just nods and reaches up and grabs Luke's hand. "Daddy, come see the picture I drew today."

Lorelai picks up her purse, which is on the entryway table.

"Hey, they'll be fine, Lorelai. Call me when you hear something." Luke whispers.  
Lorelai nods. Luke lets Sam pull him away and Lorelai steps out the door. She drives as fast as she can to the hospital. When she got there, she found Emily waiting near the entrance.

"Lorelai, come, let's go wait in the waiting room." Emily gestures for Lorelai to follow her.

"You still haven't heard anything?" Lorelai asks.

"No, I would have told you if I did." Emily replies.

Once they got to the waiting room and sat down, Lorelai asks: "What happened exactly?"

"Well, a police officer told me it was a drunk driver that hit your father's car. Can you believe it? A selfish person did this to my husband and granddaughter… I don't even know what condition they're in." Emily tells Lorelai, her voice a little hoarse.

Lorelai nods. She knew all they could do now was wait for news. After twenty minutes in silence, Lorelai saw Luke coming down the hall. She stood up.  
"Luke? What are you doing here?" She asks him.

"I knew I had to be here, so I left the kids with Babette and Morey, I hope that's okay."

Lorelai gave him a small smile and a nod. They both sat down, Luke on the other side of Lorelai. Emily was too stressed to greet Luke.

"Here." Luke whispers.

"Huh?" Lorelai replies. She felt him touch her hand and looked down to see he was holding his hand out to her. She smiles the tiniest smile and places her hand in his.

They sat in silence for another ten minutes before a doctor came out and looked around the waiting room. He cleared his throat and said: "I'm looking for the family of Richard and Rory Gilmore." (Emily had told the staff Rory's name)

Lorelai immediately stood up, "Yes, that's us." She told the doctor. Emily and Luke also stood.

"Um well, I'm afraid I have some bad news, but good news also…"

Emily raised her voice, "Oh for heaven's sake, just tell us."

The doctor looked distressed, but he continued, "Rory is going to be fine. She only suffered a broken leg, a couple fractured ribs and some cuts and bruises. But, uh, Richard… his air bag malfunctioned and we couldn't help him by the time he arrived, it was too late. I'm sorry, he didn't make it."

"What do you mean?" Emily shouts.

"Mom…" Lorelai whispers.

"My husband is… is dead because your…your incompetent doctors can't do their jobs properly." Emily shouts her voice a little frightening.

"Mom, stop, please." Lorelai walks over to Emily and puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Lorelai…" Emily mutters, then the tears start rolling down her cheeks.

"You're Rory's mother, I assume?" The doctor asks Lorelai.

Lorelai nods at him. The doctor nods back and says: "Rory is awake; she asked if you were here. And, Mrs. Gilmore," He looks at Emily. "Richard's license indicates that he is a registered organ donor. We need to stop harvesting them soon. I know this must be very hard for you, a lot to deal with, but you can say your goodbyes to him now… if you're ready."

Emily just stares at him and nods. "Okay, follow me please." The doctor leads the three of them to a room.

"You two should… go see Rory and break the news to her. I'll… I'll be here." Emily tells Lorelai and Luke. The doctor opens the door for her and she steps inside the room. Luke notices that Lorelai has started crying. He puts his arm around her and she leans into him. They follow the doctor to Rory's room.

"Here we are. I trust you can find your way back?" The doctor asks.

Luke nods, "Thank you." He reaches for the door handle, "Do you want me to come in with you?" He asks Lorelai.

Lorelai nods, "Yeah. I need you." She wipes her tears with her thumbs. Luke opens the door and they both step inside the room, Luke shuts the door behind them.

"Mom?" Rory calls from the bed.

"Oh, hon." Lorelai practically runs to the bed and she sits carefully on it without disturbing Rory, whose leg is in a cast. Luke sits down in a chair. Lorelai cautiously hugs Rory and asks her if she's okay. Rory nods and asks how Richard is.

"Rory, listen, um… Grandpa he didn't make it… the doctors couldn't save him." Lorelai tells her.

"What?! He's… gone? No, Mom… he can't be…" Rory sobs.

"Shh. I know. Come here." Lorelai pulls Rory back into her arms. They hold each other cry. Lorelai pulls away, "So, um Grandma is in his room right now, saying her goodbyes and I'm gonna go too. Luke can stay here with you, okay?"  
Rory nods, knowing she can't leave her room right now. Lorelai gets up and so does Luke. He reaches out and takes her hand and pulls her to him. He quickly places a kiss on the top of her head. She leaves.

"Um, so how are Will and Sam?" Rory asks Luke.

"Rory…" Luke says warily. She changed the subject, and he doesn't want her to feel like she can't talk to him.

"Please, Luke, I want to think about something else."

Luke nods, seeing her hurt expression. "They're great and so is your mom. She's missed you, of course, we all have."

Rory forces herself to smile. "I missed you guys too… and Grandma and… Grandpa," Her voice breaks on the last word.

"Rory," Luke whispers. He walks over to Rory's bed and puts a hand on her shoulder. Rory gives him a small smile, thankful to have him here.

A half hour later, Rory falls asleep; Luke figures that the painkillers must have made her drowsy. Luke leaves the room to look for Lorelai. He sees her down the hallway, walking towards him. She looks up and sees him, then starts walking faster. "Luke." She says simply. He opens his arms and she falls into them. He hold her tight, she presses her face into his shoulder. His hands rest on the back of her head and her back. A sob escapes her and he rubs her back. He holds her until she stops crying.

A week and a half later, Richard's funeral takes place. Emily wears sunglasses to hide her puffy eyes. Luke keeps his arm around Lorelai through the service, and Lorelai hold Rory's hand. Lorelai and Rory stay to thank the guests for coming.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Luke asks.

"Yeah, go home to the kids, honey, we'll be fine." Lorelai tells him.

Luke nods and gives her a quick hug and kiss on the forehead before leaving.

Author's note: Thank you for reading. Sorry if that was sad, but I felt like Richard would have to die, since Edward Herrmann is dead (RIP). I figure they'll have to deal with Richard's death in the revival/Netflix series…  
Please feel free to leave a review (Thanks, Nancy, for reviewing almost every chapter.)


	21. Chapter 21

One Week Later

_The house is on fire. Lorelai bolts out of her car. There is a fire truck and a police car outside of the house. They are trying to put the fire out. Lorelai runs past a firefighter, but he shouts at her to stop. She turns to face him, "My husband and my kids… they're in there. This is my house." She tells him. _

_The firefighter stares at her, "I understand that, but you can't go in there. I have to ask, do you know how the fire started?"_

_Lorelai stares back at him, "I… no, I wasn't here… but my husband, he wouldn't…" She trails off, wondering how this could have happened. She asks the fireman what they're doing to get them out._

"_There are men inside right now." The firefighter tells her. Lorelai just nods and tries to stay calm. Two minutes later, another firefighter comes out of the burning house. Lorelai watches as he walks towards her and the other firefighter. He doesn't seem to notice her. _

"_It was too late; they were trapped and couldn't get out, a father and his two kids." The firefighter tells the other one. Lorelai stares at him for a few seconds before she starts walking towards the house. One of the firefighters grabs her arm and holds her back. _

"_No! You don't understand! My kids! And Luke... they can't be, they can't!" She shouts. Once the firefighter releases his grip on her, she falls to the ground and screams._

Lorelai jolts awake and sits up in bed. "_It was a dream." _She tells herself. She looks beside her and sees Luke asleep, snoring softly. She feels tears prick her eyes and she reaches out and gently touches Luke's cheek. She smiles, feeling relieved. Then, she gets up out of bed and goes to Will's bedroom. She finds Will sleeping peacefully in his bed. She gently runs her hand over his hair then leaves his room. Next, she goes to Samantha's room to find her also asleep, clutching her teddy bear and surrounded by other stuffed animals. Lorelai smiles and touches Sam's cheek before she leaves the room.

She doesn't think she'll be able to fall back asleep, so she goes downstairs and turns the T.V. on. She curls up on the couch with a pillow and blanket. But she doesn't pay attention to the rerun of an old sitcom on the T.V., she thinks of Richard. She doesn't hear Luke enter the room.

"Lorelai?"  
She turns to face him. He walks over and sits down next to her.  
"What are you doing out of bed? Couldn't sleep?" Luke asks, a look of concern on his face.

Lorelai nods, "Yeah." She sniffles, trying to hide the fact that she was crying. "Go back to sleep, I'm fine." She tells him.

"No, you're not. You can talk to me, Lorelai. I lost my father too… I know what you're going through." Luke looks into her eyes.

Lorelai sighs, "It's not just my dad… I uh, had a nightmare." She whispers.

Luke reaches out and gently pushes her hair off her face. "Tell me about it."

She clears her throat, "Um… I… there was a fire, at the house. You and the kids were inside and no one could get you out, it was too late." Her voice shakes a little, "So Rory and my mom were all I had left… and I…" She stops and breaks down crying.

"Hey, shh, it's okay." Luke whispers as he pulls her into his chest. She pulls back a little and says:

"My dreams have come true before, what if this one d…"

Luke cuts her off, "It won't. I'm not going anywhere, Lorelai. The kids aren't either."

Lorelai nods, "It's just that my dad was here, and then suddenly, he wasn't. Anything can happen in the blink of an eye."

Luke shakes his head, "It was an accident, yes, they happen every day, but, I promise you I will do everything in my power to make sure nothing happens to the kids or you or me."

Lorelai nods again, as tears roll down her cheeks. She knows he's saying this to make her feel better, but she still can't help but feel scared that anything can happen.

Luke pulls her closer and kisses her cheek and her temple. Lorelai has a thought suddenly,

"Oh my god," She gasps.

"What?" Luke asks, alarmed.

"My mom, I've barely talked to her in the past week. I can't imagine how she must be feeling… she lost her husband, she's a widow."

Luke nods. "Why don't you go see her tomorrow? You and Rory."

Lorelai looks him in the eye, "Yeah. I can't believe I've been so selfish, I didn't even think about what she's going through. I only thought of myself."

Luke looks back at her, "It's okay, you realized that you all need each other now. Emily, and you and Rory need each other the most right now."

Lorelai gives him a small smile, "And you, I need you too. Thank you." She whispers.

"You don't need to thank me… are you coming back to bed?" He asks.

She shakes her head, "No, I'm going to stay here. I'd probably just toss and turn in bed the rest of the night."

"Okay." Luke responds. He rubs her arm gently before he gets up. Before he leaves the room, he turns to face her and says: "I love you."

Lorelai nods, "I know, I love you too."

The next morning, Luke wakes up early and wakes the kids up to get them ready for school. He finds Lorelai asleep on the couch and leaves her there. Rory doesn't come out of the guest room, so Luke figures she's still sleeping. An hour later, he returns home after dropping the kids off at school and doing some errands. He finds Lorelai and Rory sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee.  
"Hey." Luke greets them. Rory smiles at him.

"Hi, hon. How are the kids?" Lorelai asks.

"They're fine. Sam was excited to go to school, as usual. And Will seemed to be okay." Sam was too young to understand that her grandfather would never be coming back and Will understood, but he also had a little trouble believing that Richard was gone for good.

"I'm going to go start the car." Rory says and she gets up and leaves the room.

"We're going to see Mom." Lorelai explains.

Luke just nods. Lorelai gets up, walks over to him and wraps her arms around him. He hugs her back tightly. She sighs, the sound muffled by his chest, as her face is pressed into it. He pats her back gently. She pulls away, but he keeps a hand on her back.

"See you later." She whispers and she kisses him softly before leaving.

Three hours later, Lorelai and Rory return. Rory says she's going to take a nap and she goes upstairs. Luke asks Lorelai how the visit went.

"Well, we talked a lot; we worked out a lot of concerns. Rory was feeling… guilty, she was in the car with him and she thinks that maybe if she had insisted on driving, this wouldn't have happened. She said she wishes he didn't have to pick her up, because then they wouldn't be on the road at that time. Or she wishes she could have done something to stop it. I told her it wasn't her fault, that it was the drunk driver that hit them. She still wishes she could have done something to prevent it, but I think she knows it's not her fault. And my mom… she kept on saying that my dad had promised her that she could go first, and she's… devastated that he couldn't keep that promise. We, um, really well, bonded. We all got our feelings out in the open and we talked and it helped." She finishes and she lets out a deep breath.

"That's good." Luke replies. He doesn't know what else to say. They relax together for a couple hours before Luke leaves to pick up the kids.

Later that night, Luke lies in bed next to Lorelai. She is having trouble getting to sleep. When it seems like she is finally drifting off to sleep, Will pushes the door to the bedroom open.

"Mom? Can you help me with my homework?" He asks.

Lorelai opens her eyes and gives Luke a sad smile. He nods and tells Will that he can help. Will leaves and Luke slowly gets up. Once he's standing, he grunts. Lorelai asks:  
"What's wrong?"

"My back again," Luke mutters. His back had been hurting on and off for the past few months.

"You should get it checked out." Lorelai says

"Okay. But don't you need me here? You and the kids need me."

"Luke, I'll be fine. It will only take an hour or so, we'll be fine. You should get back to the diner too."

Luke nods, deciding not to tell her that he feels like he needs to stay with her; the diner doesn't matter right now. He leaves the room and goes to Will's bedroom.

Once Luke gets Will started on his homework, Will asks: "Why can't Mom help? She usually does."

"She just needs some rest right now. You understand that, right?" Luke replies.

Will nods, "She's sad about Grandpa, right?"

Luke nods too, "Yeah, but I'm here too, if you want to talk or… anything."

Will stares at him then nods slowly. He turns his attention back to his homework.

An hour later, after bathing Sam and putting both kids to bed, Luke returns to the bedroom to find Lorelai asleep. He gets ready for bed then settles in next to her. Lorelai wakes up in the middle of the night, but Luke is there to comfort her.


	22. Chapter 22

Author's note: A reviewer noticed that Rory's husband wasn't mentioned in the last couple of chapters. I was focusing on the Lorelai and Luke aspect of the story, so I kind of forgot about him, and I forgot to mention that he's still in Chicago (where him and Rory live, she's just visiting Stars Hollow) and he couldn't get out of work… it kind of a sorry excuse not to include him, but I wanted to focus on Lorelai/Luke also, I forgot to mention that Rory has crutches because of her broken leg… Anyways thanks for reading and please feel free to leave a review.

A couple days later, Luke went to see his doctor. When he returned home in the late afternoon, he found Lorelai and the kids watching T.V. together.  
"Hi. How'd your appointment go?" Lorelai asks him.

Luke sits next to Sam. "Well, he said it's most likely arthritis. He recommended I try some exercises or massage therapy and Tylenol might also help."

Lorelai nods. "Okay. So it's manageable then?"

"Yeah, as long as I follow the doctor's orders," Luke replies.

Lorelai nods again. "So, do you mind if we order pizza for dinner? It's all I feel like having and the kids want it too."

"Sure." Luke agrees right away, he was too tired to cook dinner.

A few hours later, as Luke got ready for bed, Lorelai sat in bed and asked him:

"Did you think about going back to the diner?"

Luke steps out of the bathroom and walks over to the bed. "Yeah. I think I'll wait until next week." He says in a low voice.

Lorelai shakes her head, "Luke, I'm fine. I can wake the kids up and take them to school. I can handle it. Don't worry. You should get back to the diner, it's been too long. I know you worry about how Caesar and the others run the diner. You want everything to be in your control."

Luke stares at her, "I don't know… I think you still need time to grieve. And, I want to be here to help you any way I can. You shouldn't have to take care of everything when you're still upset. The diner can wait, Lorelai. I need to stay here with you."

Lorelai lets out an exaggerated sigh, "I don't need you hovering around me, waiting for me to break down. I'm fine, Luke!" She raises her voice. "I can handle the normal daily activities and I think I'll go back to the Inn soon… please, just go back to the diner, I need space, and I need to get back to normal!"

Luke's brow furrows, "Fine. I'll go tomorrow… good night." He says in a quiet voice, lacking of emotion. He walks over to his side of the bed and gets in. Once he pulls the covers over himself, he turns off the lamp on his nightstand and lies down, facing away from Lorelai.

Lorelai bites her lip and looks down for a second. She frowns then turns off the lamp on her side without saying a word. She settles in the bed, far from Luke's side.

The next morning, Luke wakes up early without the use of an alarm clock. He sighs as he looks over at Lorelai, who is still asleep, clutching a pillow. Luke gets ready in twenty minutes. He looks at Lorelai one last time before leaving the bedroom. He tells himself that everything will be fine by the time he returns home.

One hour later, Lorelai wakes up to the sound of the front door opening. She hears Rory's voice shout, "You're here!"  
Lorelai quickly gets out of bed and walks downstairs. She finds Rory and her husband, Jeremy embracing in the front entryway. Rory pulls back and wobbles a little, her crutches forgotten on the floor. Jeremy reaches out and steadies her by wrapping his arm around her.  
"I'm so sorry I couldn't be here before. I missed you so much." Jeremy says to Rory.

Rory sighs softly, but she says: "Well, better late than never. I missed you too." She leans in and kisses him. At that moment, Sam and Will walk down the stairs.  
"Hi, mommy." Sam says.

Lorelai turns to face her and she bends down to lift her up. "Good morning, honey."

Rory and Jeremy turn to face Lorelai and the kids. "Hi, Lorelai." Jeremy greets her with a friendly smile.

"Hi, how are you?" Lorelai answers.

"I'm fine. Happy to be back with Rory, of course, I'm, uh sorry for you loss." Jeremy says gently.

Lorelai gives him a small smile; she was used to people saying that. "Thank you"

"Mom? Where's Dad? In the kitchen making breakfast?" Will asks, looking between Lorelai and Rory and Jeremy.

"Oh, uh no he went to the diner. We're going to have cereal today and then I'll take you to school, okay?" Lorelai replies.

Will nods, "Okay."

They all go into the kitchen and eat breakfast together. Afterwards, Lorelai drives the kids to the school. Sam hugs Lorelai tightly. Lorelai is surprised and Sam says, "You look sad, Mommy."

Lorelai feels heartbroken, but she puts a smile on her face for her daughter. "Aww, thanks for the hug. I love you; have a good day at school." She kisses her goodbye and watches her walk into the kindergarten classroom.

Hours later, Luke returns home, walks in the door and finds Rory and Jeremy in the front entryway, putting on their shoes. Luke greets Jeremy with a handshake and they chat a little. Rory tells him that they're going back home.

"Oh, so soon? Is your leg healing up okay?" Luke asks Rory, concerned.

"Yeah, I had that checkup the other day and the doctor said I was fine. I think… well it's time for me to go. I need to move on, you know. Grandpa wouldn't want me to stay sitting around forever. I need to go back." Rory tells him with a sad expression.

Luke nods. "Well, we'll miss you around here."

Rory just smiles at him. Lorelai walks in, the kids behind her. Luke watches Lorelai bend down and whisper something to the kids. They walk over to Rory and carefully hug her. Rory seems surprised, but she hugs them back. "Bye, you two."

After the kids step back, Luke steps closer to Rory and gives her a quick one-armed hug. Rory turns to Lorelai and Lorelai walks up to her slowly.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" She asks.

Rory nods, "Yeah, don't worry. I, um… I know the accident wasn't anyone's fault but the drunk driver. I just wish there was something I could have done to prevent it. But, I know I can't change anything. I just need to move on." Rory lets out a deep breath and gives Lorelai a small smile.

"Okay, hon." Lorelai says simply then she carefully pulls Rory into a hug. When they pull apart, Rory says: "Love you."

Lorelai smiles, "Love you too, sweets."

Jeremy helps Rory with her bags and they walk out the door together.

"Daddy, do you want to see the picture I drew at school today?" Sam asks, looking up at Luke with a smile.

Luke glances at Lorelai and then smiles down at Sam. "I have to talk to Mommy for a few minutes. Can you and Will go play for a little bit?"

Sam nods and Will takes her hand and leads her away.

"Hi." Lorelai whispers, looking at Luke with a pained expression.

"Hi." Luke whispers back. He steps closer to her. "I'm sorry. I know… you're strong and you don't always need me to help pick up the pieces. But, I don't want you to have to feel like you have to push me away because enough time has passed and you feel like you need to get back to normal. I'm always here, Lorelai. You can talk to me." He reaches out and puts a hand on her arm and gently rubs it.

She looks up at him. "I'm sorry too. I know you're here for me and I appreciate that. But, I meant what I said, I need to try to move on… and you going back to the diner and things going back to normal will help me. I called Sookie today and she said I can come back to the Inn when I'm ready. I'm going to go tomorrow. I'm fine, really."

Luke just looks at her, he frowns at first, but then he smiles softly. "Okay." He whispers. He quickly kisses the top of her head. When he pulls away, she smiles at him. They walk into the family room and sit down and watch T.V. with the kids for a little while before Luke cooks dinner.

Later that night, in bed, Luke kisses Lorelai goodnight and pulls her close. They fall asleep in that position. No words were needed to show their love and compassion for each other.


	23. Chapter 23

The next morning, Luke woke up to find Lorelai still snuggled up next to him. Her arm was draped over his abdomen and her head was under his arm, on her pillow. He wakes her up gently by tapping her shoulder. She opens her eyes and moves her gaze to him. He smiles softly, "Morning" He whispers. She just gives him a small smile in response.

"Did you sleep well?" He asks as he runs his hand up and down her back.

"Yeah, I didn't wake up in the middle of the night." She replies.

"You still want to go to work today?" Luke asks, expecting her to say yes.

She nods slowly, "I want to try it out, see how it will go. I think I'm okay. And the work will distract me anyway."

Luke looks at her thoughtfully, but he decides to support her decision, "All right." He says simply. He kisses her forehead, then she lays her head on his chest. They lie in silence for a couple minutes as he runs his hand through her hair and she toys with his other hand.

Half an hour later, Lorelai was ready to leave for work. The kids were still asleep, as they didn't have to leave for school for another half hour. Luke and Lorelai stood at the front door.

"Okay. I'll see you later, hon." Lorelai says.

Luke nods, "Call me if you need anything, or even if you just want to talk. I'll be at the diner; you can call my cell though."

Lorelai smiles, "I will. Kiss." She says playfully. Luke lightly touches her jaw with one hand and leans in and gives her a sweet, long kiss.

"See you later." He says when he pulls back. Lorelai just nods and walks out the door.

Luke wakes the kids up and Sam asks where Lorelai is. Luke tells her that Lorelai went back to work. Sam doesn't say anything, but she frowns. They eat breakfast and get ready quickly then get in the car.

"Is Mommy going to come to school to say bye?" Sam asks.

"No, Sam, she's at work. She should be there to pick you up though." Luke tells her with a gentle smile.

Sam pouts, "No, I want mommy to take me to school…" She starts crying.

"Sam… it's okay." Luke tries to soothe her, but he doesn't know what to say. He starts the car and backs out of the driveway. Sam continues to cry as Luke drives.

"I want… Mommy!" Sam cries. Will reaches out and pats her hand to try to calm her.

"Sam, stop crying. You'll see Mommy later." Luke says, trying to stay calm. Sam keeps crying.

"Samantha, stop right now!" Luke raises his voice and Sam stops crying abruptly. She sniffles quietly.

The rest of the drive is silent. When they arrive at the school, Luke gets out and opens the back door. He helps Sam out of her car seat and Will gets out on his own.

"I can get to class on my own. See you later, Dad." Will says quietly.

"You sure?" Luke asks as Sam tries to squirm out of his arms.

"Yeah." Will replies simply.

"Okay. Bye, have a good day." Luke says with a small nod. Will turns and walks in the school. Luke sets Sam down gently on the ground. She looks up at him, her lip quivering a little. Luke gets a few tissues from the car and uses them to wipe Sam's face.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to yell. I just… needed to focus on driving." He tries to explain to her.

Sam just gives him a little nod.

"Okay, let's get you to your classroom." Luke takes her hand in his and they walk in the school. When they get to her classroom, Luke bends down to her level even though it isn't comfortable for him.

"Bye, have fun today, okay?" Luke gives her a tentative smile.

She gives him a tiny smile in return and he quickly hugs her goodbye. He watches her step in the classroom and walk over to the teacher.

Later, in the diner, as Luke sets a plate of food in front of Liz, who's sitting at the counter, his cell phone rings. He looks at the screen before answering.

"Hey, I was hoping you'd call. How's it going?" He answers.

"Hi. Everything is fine. I'm just starting to get used to the flow of things again. I thought I'd call to let you know I'm okay… and I just wanted to hear your voice." Lorelai admits.

Luke smiles softly. "That's… good to hear. I appreciate the call. Are you going to pick up the kids from school or do you want me to?"

Lorelai takes a few seconds to answer, "I'll do it. I haven't seen them all day and I miss them."

"Oh, it's Lorelai? Tell her that I said you guys can come over for dinner anytime, or I can watch Will and Sam if you two need alone time." Liz tells Luke.

Luke nods, "Hey, Liz is here and she says we can come over from dinner whenever or she can watch Will and Sam to give us a break, I guess. Also, practically everyone in town has come by and offered their condolences… I thanked them." He tells Lorelai.

"Oh, that's so sweet. This town is crazy… but their also kind and loving. I'm… glad I live here." Luke could tell that Lorelai was smiling as she said that. "Tell Liz thanks for me too."

"I will. So, I'll see you at home later. I'll try to close up early, okay?" Luke replies.

"All right, see you later. Love you." Lorelai says in a soft voice.

"Love you too. Bye." Luke says. He presses the screen to hang up and slips the phone into his pocket.

"Is Lorelai doing okay?" Liz asks with a look of concern on her face.

"Yeah, I think she's going to be okay. I think getting back to the Inn is helping her. "

Liz nods, "And I'm sure you're helping her too. You're her rock, Luke."

Luke smiles at her, "Yeah, I guess. So, how are Doula and T.J.?"

Luke catches up with Liz and the day passes slowly for him. He finally closes up the diner after the dinner rush. On the way home, he stops at Doose's to pick up some groceries. When he finally returns home, Will greets him at the door.

"Hi Dad,"

"Hey buddy, how was school?"

"Good. Mom already helped with my homework and we had Chinese food for supper." Will tells him with a smile.

"Oh, that's good. Where is Mom?" Luke asks.

"In the kitchen. She said I could go watch T.V., that's okay right?" Will seems hesitant.

"Sure." Luke responds, and he ruffles Will's hair before he walks away.

Luke finds Lorelai cleaning up the kitchen.

"Oh, you're back." Lorelai grins when she notices Luke.

Luke drops the grocery bags on the counter and walks over to Lorelai. He gives her a quick kiss and when he starts to pull away, she wraps her arms around him. He hugs her and whispers in her ear, "You all right?"

She nods into his shoulder. "I just wanted a hug." She whispers back. He rubs her back gently for a few seconds before she pulls away.

"Um, Sam told me that you yelled at her today?" Lorelai asks, looking for confirmation.

Luke sighs, "Ah, yeah. I shouldn't have but she was crying and I needed to focus on driving… I apologized to her. Is she okay?"

"I think she's okay. I put her to bed early, she seemed to be tired." Lorelai answers.

Luke nods, "I guess I'll go check on her. I feel bad… she said she wanted you to take her to school, but I told her you were at work."

"She was really happy to see me when I picked them up. She just told me that you yelled at her, I didn't ask her how school was or anything. I'm sure she'll forgive you, hon." Lorelai tells him.

"Okay, I'll go see if she's still awake." Luke leaves the room and heads upstairs.

In Sam's room, he finds her on her bed, her eyes closed but she doesn't appear to be asleep.

"Sam? Are you sleeping?" Luke whispers.

Sam opens her eyes and shakes her head. Luke kneels in front of the bed.

"Um, you know that I didn't like yelling at you… I would never want to be mean to you. I'm sorry." He says softly.

Sam nods, "It's okay Daddy. I know you're not a meanie."

Luke grins, "Thank you, sweetie. Go to sleep."

Sam smiles and closes her eyes. Luke tucks her in and grabs one of her stuffed animals from the floor. He places it next to her.  
"Goodnight." He whispers.

The next morning, Lorelai is awoken by her cell phone ringing. Luke isn't in bed next to her, so she figures he's making breakfast. She answers the phone without checking to see whose calling.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mom," Rory answers.

"Hey hon. How's it feel to be back home?" Lorelai asks.

"Hey, you know Stars Hollow is my real home. It's good to be back here though. I'm going back to work today."

Lorelai smiles, "That's good. I went back to the Inn yesterday. It was… nice to start getting back to the old routine, you know?"

"Yeah. That sounds… kind of refreshing… So you're okay, right?" Rory asks, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine. Working got my mind off him… but I still think about him every day, you know?" Lorelai replies.

"Yeah, I know. I still miss him so much every day. I still can't believe he's gone…" Rory says in a low voice.

"I know. I miss him too. I wish he could be here to see Will and Sam grow up… I don't think Sam understands that he's gone. How could she at this age?" Lorelai frowns, thinking about it.

"That's one of the worst things about this; I know Grandpa loved them so much…"

"Yeah, and they adored him. Grandpa loved you too." Lorelai says softly.

"I know. He loved all of us." Rory replies, her voice breaking a little. It's silent for a few seconds, as neither of them know what to say.

"I have to go. Jeremy made me breakfast and I have to get ready for work. I'll call you when I get home." Rory says.

"Aww, I think Luke's making breakfast too, we have great husbands, don't we?" Lorelai says in a playful tone of voice.

"Yep. Okay, bye Mom."

"Bye, Rory. Have a good day." Lorelai hangs up and gets out of bed. She finds Luke and the kids in the kitchen. Luke is at the stove and the kids are sitting at the table. She walks over to the table and kisses both kids on the top of their heads. Then she walks over to Luke.

"Morning, babe," She greets him.

"Morning," Luke mutters, he turns away from the stove for a second to kiss her cheek.

Once Luke finishes cooking, they sit and eat breakfast together. Afterwards, Lorelai drives the kids to school and she drops Luke off at the diner before going to the Inn.

That night, when Luke and Lorelai are cleaning up after dinner, there's a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." Will says. He comes back to the kitchen a couple minutes later, Emily walking behind him.

"Lorelai, I have something I want to discuss with you." Emily says.

"Grandma! Hi!" Sam says before Lorelai can respond. Sam runs up to Emily and gives her a quick hug.

"Oh, hello Samantha," Emily greets her and she manages to give her a small smile.

"Is Gampy coming too?" Sam asks Emily.

Emily frowns and looks at Lorelai and Luke, who have stopped cleaning.

"He's not ever coming back here." Will says with a bitterness to his voice.

Lorelai and Emily gasp, shocked. Luke walks over to Will.

"Will, you shouldn't say things like that in front of your sister, she doesn't understand." Luke tells Will.

"But it's true, right?" Will mutters quietly.

"What?" Sam asks, clearly confused.

Lorelai frowns and steps in front of Sam, she bends down to her level and looks her in the eye.

"Honey, remember we told you how Grandpa was hurt in the car with Rory and the doctors tried to make him better, but they couldn't?" Lorelai says gently.

Sam nods, "But I don't want him to be gone."

Lorelai gently rubs Sam's back, "I know, of course we don't want him to be gone. He didn't want to leave either, but he had to and it's okay if you miss him."

Sam starts to cry silently, tears roll down her cheeks. Lorelai starts to wipe them with her thumbs. Luke walks over and taps Lorelai's shoulder. She stands up. "I can take her and Will upstairs so you can talk to Emily." Luke whispers.

Lorelai nods, "Thank you." She rubs Luke's arm affectionately. Luke picks up Sam and she wraps her arms around his neck and presses her face into his chest, clearly seeking comfort. Will follows Luke out of the room.

Emily sits down at the table and Lorelai sits next to her.

"Well, that was… something." Emily says.

"The kids, uh, they're having a hard time understanding that Dad is really gone." Lorelai explains, although she doesn't feel like she needs to.

"I understand. They're so young; it must be awful for them." Emily says sincerely.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Lorelai asks. She looks at Emily and sees deep bags under her eyes.

"I want to sell the house." Emily says pointedly.

"What? You've had that house so long… oh I understand… it's not the same without Dad…" Lorelai responds, trying to imagine her house without Luke.

"Yes, and I don't need such a large house for myself… also your father, his will stated that he wanted me to do whatever I felt was best." Emily looks down for a second and when she looks back up; Lorelai sees tears welling up in her eyes.

"Okay. Do you need my help with anything?" Lorelai asks.

Emily nods, "I'll need your help organizing everything. Once the house is sold, I'll need to pack up everything I want to keep and move it."

"Sure, Mom anything you need, I'll help you… are you doing okay, otherwise? I know that might be a stupid question."

"I'm coping as best as I can. I… still can't believe he's really gone." Emily replies.

"I know. Me either." Lorelai says sadly. A minute of silence passes before Emily stands up.

"I should get going. I'll keep in touch." Emily says. They have had many phone conversations in the past week, short conversations, but meaningful ones.

"Okay, Mom, drive safe." Lorelai gets up and follows Emily to the door. Before Emily steps out the door, Lorelai stops her by placing a hand on her arm. Emily glances at her. Lorelai gives her a sad smile before she wraps an arm around her and gives her a quick one- armed hug. Emily is the one to pull away.

"Thank you, Lorelai." Emily says quietly.

Lorelai gives her a small smile. Emily doesn't say anything else before she leaves.

Lorelai goes upstairs and finds Luke in their bedroom. "Hey. How are the kids?"

"Well, I talked to them and explained things… Sam's upset, but I think she understands better now, it's just hard for a kid her age of course. I told Will to think before he says things, he's more angry than upset. He feels a little lost I think…like he doesn't know how to grieve or what to say. I think I helped him feel better... they're both in bed." Luke tells her.

"Okay… we'll all get through this together, right? It will be rough but we'll do it." Lorelai replies.

"Right," Luke says, resorting to his monosyllabic nature. Then he adds, "Come here."

Lorelai walks over to him and he holds her. When she pulls back, she gives him a thankful smile. They get ready for bed and lie down, exhausted. Lorelai snuggles up close to him and kisses him deeply.  
She falls asleep in his arms once again that night.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading, I think this is the longest chapter yet… Reviews are appreciated.


	24. Chapter 24

Lorelai and Emily spent many hours of the next two weeks cleaning and organizing the Gilmore household. As they dug up old items such as pictures and mementos, they remembered the good and bad times. They discussed their relationship and talked about their feelings. Although they had a few disagreements, by the time they finished organizing the house, they had learned to let each other in and see each other's point of view more often. They had grown closer, closer than they had ever been. They had learned to respect each other's opinions, learned to listen to each other better, and learned to appreciate each other. Richard's death had really changed things for them, they realized that you might not get all the time you want with your loved ones and every minute you did get with them was important.

Six months after Richard's death, Rory came for a visit and she, Lorelai and Emily bonded. They supported each other and talked about Richard fondly. They were still hurting, but they were sensible to not dwell on the fact that Richard was gone; instead, they thought of happy memories and shared them with each other. One night, after he came home from school, Will went straight to his room and slammed the door behind him. Lorelai followed him and asked him if it was alright if she came in. He didn't respond, she entered his room and saw him lying on the bed, face down. Lorelai sat at the end of the bed and asked him what was wrong. It took him a minute, but Will sat up and whispered, "I miss Grandpa."

Lorelai took one look at his face and immediately reached out to him. "Oh, honey. I miss him too." She held him until he stopped crying.

Samantha never really understood that Richard was gone, but she stopped asking about him, she seemed to have gotten used to his absence and she recognized that asking about her grandpa only made her mother and grandmother sad.

One year after Richard's death, things had become easier, the pain and deep feeling of loss were still there, but they weren't as strong, and the lives of the Gilmore women moved on.

The following Spring, April graduated from university. Luke, Lorelai and the kids all attended. A couple months later, she moved to Cape Cod and got a job as a marine biologist. Her boyfriend moved with her.

Summer of the Following Year

Luke received a phone call from Buddy, he informed him that Maisy had had a heart attack and passed away. This time, Lorelai was there to comfort Luke and help him with his grief.

At the end of the summer, they decided to take a family trip to the beach.

As Lorelai put a hat on Sam, she frowned and said: "I want to wear my hat backwards, like Daddy."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows and Luke smirked. Although it wouldn't protect her from the sun that way, Lorelai let Sam wear the hat backwards. She finished helping the kids apply sunscreen and went in the water to swim with them. Luke watched from a chair, it was too hot to wear a flannel and jeans, so he wore a t-shirt and shorts. When he changed into them, Lorelai whistled and said, "You've still got it, babe."  
Luke just smiled softly at her.

When Lorelai and the kids came out of the water, Sam asked Luke if he would help her build a sandcastle. "Sure." He replied. While they did that, Will read a book and Lorelai sat back and relaxed,

Luke and Sam spent a good amount of time building the perfect sandcastle. When it was complete, Sam tells Luke, "I love it! You're good at making sandcastles, Daddy!"

Luke grins, "Well, it looks so nice because you helped me make it."

Sam smiles back and Luke quickly kisses the top of her head. He gently pulls her up and leads her to a spot a few feet away. He slips off one of his shoes and plants his foot in the sand and pulls it away after a few seconds. Sam watched and when she saw his footprint she giggled and copied him.

"Dad? Can we go fishing now?" Wil asks.

Luke glances over at him, and then looks back at Sam who is looking out at the water.  
"Sure, let's go." He tells Will. He leads Sam back to Lorelai's and Will's chairs. He bends down and gently touches Lorelai's arm. She opens her eyes.

"Hey, I'm gonna go take Will down to the dock to see if we can catch anything, are you gonna take Sam out swimming again?" Luke asks her.

"Okay. Yeah, we'll go swim again. I'm starting to sweat, it's so hot."

Luke nods, "All right." Will stands and waits for Luke to lead the way back to the car so they can get their fishing rods.

"Hey, you're supposed to say: 'You're always hot, babe' " Lorelai tells Luke in a joking tone.

Luke just rolls his eyes in response. He quickly bends down and kisses the top of her head. "See ya later." He mutters.

"Hey, you missed." Lorelai says in a playful voice.

Luke squints at her, he doesn't get what she means at first then he leans down again and she smiles before he presses his lips to hers for a brief kiss. "Bye" She says when he pulls back. He flashes her smile before stepping back and walking away.

Luke and Will spend the next hour fishing. They catch a few fish and Luke is happy to see that Will seems to love it. He asks Luke if they could ever go camping and Luke tells him that he'd love that.

Later that night, as Lorelai and Luke lie in bed, they talk about the day.

"Sam loved that sandcastle so much. It was so cute to see you help her build it." Lorelai says.

"Yeah, she really enjoyed it and it was nice to see her so happy." Luke replies as he runs his fingers through Lorelai's hair.

"And she loved swimming; maybe we should let her take professional lessons." Lorelai ponders.

"Maybe. Will really enjoyed fishing, too. He asked if we could go camping." Luke tells her.

"Oh, you should take him sometime, do some father-son boding." Lorelai responds as she gently massages Luke's shoulder.

Luke smiles, "Yeah, I think it'd be great. But you and Sam could come too."

"Nah, we like the indoors more, at least I do. Me and Sam can watch movies and paint our nails and do girly things. Or, actually she is a daddy's girl, so she might want to go camping with you." Lorelai grins at him.

Luke nods, "We'll see." He sighs, "I'm exhausted."

Lorelai rubs his arm, "Well then, let's go to sleep."

"Goodnight." Luke whispers before he gives her a peck on the lips.

"'Night, hon." Lorelai whispers back. They turn off the lamps and settle close to each other in the bed.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading, please feel free to leave a review. I don't know when the next chapter will be released, as I have a little bit of writer's block. The next chapter might have a big time jump.


	25. Chapter 25

Two Weeks Before Christmas

Luke was awakened by the sound of the bedroom door opening.

"Sammy, you'll wake them up, don't go in there." He heard Will whisper. But it was too late, Sam steps inside the bedroom. She looks around until she spots Luke. Before she can speak, Luke whispers:

"Shh. Mommy is still sleeping." He points to Lorelai, who was fast asleep, her arm spread out, reaching for Luke. Sam glances over at Lorelai then walks over to Luke's side of the bed. Will enters the room and stands by the door. Sam climbs up on the bed silently. Once she's sitting next to Luke, she whispers:

"It's snowing! I wanted to tell Mommy."

Luke nods, "Okay, but let's let her sleep a bit longer." He tells her. Lorelai had a late night at the Inn last night. Sam frowns, but she slides off the bed carefully. Luke follows her and Will out of the room. As they walk downstairs, Will apologizes to Luke, tells him that he tried to stop Sam from going into the bedroom.

"It's okay. Mom didn't wake up. Your sister gets excited about the snow, just like Mom does. One time, Mom even woke me up in the middle of the night to go outside to see the first snowfall." Luke replies.

Will raises his eyebrows, "Really? You must have been mad."

Luke chuckles, "Yeah, I wasn't happy." He admits.

Will just smiles and shakes his head, "I don't really like snow as much as them. It's too cold. I'd rather stay inside and read or something."

Luke just smiles at him. The three of them go downstairs and Luke cooks breakfast.

"Daddy, can we wake up Mommy now and go outside to play in the snow?" Sam asks when they've finished eating.

"We can wait a little longer. How about you go get dressed?" Luke replies.

Sam just nods and runs upstairs. Will also goes upstairs. Luke starts loading the dishwasher and puts a plate of food in the oven to keep it warm for Lorelai. He heads upstairs after he finishes. When he enters the bedroom, Lorelai opens her eyes.

"Morning," She murmurs.

"Good morning. How'd you sleep?" Luke asks as he walks over to the bed.

"I slept fine. What time is it?" Lorelai blinks and rubs her eyes.

Luke looks at his watch, "It's almost ten."

"Okay. I'll get up. Did you get the kids up?" She asks. It was a Saturday, so Lorelai assumed the kids would want to sleep in late.

"Actually, the kids came in here and woke me up. Sam is excited because it snowed. She wanted to wake you up, but I told her not to." Luke tells her.

"Oh! It snowed! Wow, I can see why Sam's excited and why she wanted to wake me up. The first snow is magical, you know." Lorelai says excitedly as she gets out of bed and starts taking out clothes from the dresser.

"Yeah, yeah," Luke deadpans.

"We can make snowmen and snow angels and drink hot chocolate and just enjoy the snow!" Lorelai grins. She quickly gets dressed.

Luke just nods, he doesn't get her obsession with the snow, but he enjoys seeing her happy.

Lorelai kisses Luke's cheeks before she leaves the room and he kisses her back and teases her a little, calling her "crazy lady." She heads to Sam's room and Sam runs out as soon as she gets there. She grins from ear to ear when she sees Lorelai.

"Mommy! There's snow outside!" She shouts.

"I know! It's great! Are you ready to go outside and play?" Lorelai responds.

Sam smiles, "Yeah! Are Will and Daddy coming too?"

"I don't know. They don't exactly love the snow as much as we do." Lorelai says.

Luke walks over to them. "I'll stay inside and clean up the house a little and I can make hot chocolate so you can have it when you come inside." He tells Sam with a small smile.

Sam just nods and she and Lorelai go downstairs. Will comes out of his room.

"Are you going out with your mom and sister?" Luke asks him.

"Yeah. I'll go out for a bit." Will answers.

"Okay. Have fun." Luke responds.

After Lorelai eats and they all put their hats, mittens, coats and boots on, Lorelai, Will and Sam head outside. They build a small snowman together before Will heads inside. Lorelai and Sam make snow-angles and have a mini snowball fight before going inside. The four of them sit down together and Lorelai and the kids drink hot chocolate while Luke drinks tea.

A few days later, while Luke is out of town visiting Jess, Lorelai brings the kids to the Inn after school and Sookie bakes with them while Lorelai finishes up some paperwork. When Lorelai comes to the kitchen to get the kids, Sam's face lights up and she walks over to Lorelai.

"Mommy, Sookie says that you have a horse here. Can I see it?"

Lorelai raises her eyebrows, "We do have a horse here. I didn't know you liked horses, I would have showed you him before."

Sam nods and smiles, "I think horses are pretty and I want to ride one."

"Okay. Let's go meet the horse. Maybe one day you can learn how to ride a horse." Lorelai replies. She turns to face Will, "Are you coming with us, hon?"

Will glances at Sookie, and then looks back at Lorelai. "Can I stay with Sookie a bit longer? I want to see how our muffins turned out."

Lorelai smiles, "Sure. We'll come get you later." Sookie smiles at her before turning to Will,

"Do you really like baking? Because your dad is more into cooking and your mom couldn't cook to save her life."

Lorelai doesn't wait to hear Will's response, as she leaves with Sam.

Later, when Lorelai and the kids return home, they find Luke watching T.V. and eating pizza.

Lorelai gasps, "Who are you and what have you done with my husband?" She says a bit sarcastically.

Luke frowns, "What do you mean?" He says, although he thinks he knows what she means.

"Um you're eating pizza and watching T.V. You're like the spokesperson for eating healthily and you almost never watch T.V." Lorelai says as she sits next to him.

"Well, I was too tired to cook anything and this show looked kind of interesting." Luke replies, he gestures to the T.V., and episode of MasterChef is playing.

Lorelai just shrugs, "Okay, whatever." She gets up and goes to the kitchen to get plates and drinks for her and the kids. They all sit down and watch T.V. and eat together, Lorelai sits with her legs on Luke's lap.

Later that night, before they go to bed, Lorelai tells Luke how much Sam enjoyed seeing the horse at the Inn. Luke suggests the idea of the family taking a little vacation and going to New York, where they could take a horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park. Lorelai agrees that the kids would enjoy it and it would be nice to take a little vacation together. She also suggests they invite Sookie, Jackson and their kids, and Luke agrees.

About a week later, they all go to New York City. When they get to the horse drawn carriage ride, Sam is very excited. She pets the horses and even asks Luke and Lorelai if she can have her own horse for Christmas. Will also enjoys the ride; the driver gives him a couple carrots to feed to the horse. Sookie and Jackson's kids also seem to enjoy the ride, even though they are older.

Halfway through the ride, Lorelai slips her hand into Luke's and he gasps.

"Your hand is freezing."

"Yeah, sorry, I forgot my gloves at home." Lorelai tells him.

Luke just sighs softly and takes her hand in both of his and tries to warm it up.

"Well, it's nice to have a guy like you with big, strong hands to warm my hand up." Lorelai whispers.

Luke rolls his eyes, but he keeps holding her hand and his wraps his arm around her shoulders and quickly kisses the top of her head.

When they pass an ice skating rink, both Will and Sam get excited and ask if they can go skating. Luke says they might have time to the next day and Lorelai says:

"Hey, did I ever tell you about the time your dad built me my own personal ice rink?" She grins at Luke and he smiles back.

The next day, Rory and Jeremy show up for a surprise visit. The family appreciates spending Christmas time together. On New Year's Eve, Will and Sam fall asleep before midnight and Lorelai and Luke spend some alone time together. Before Lorelai even asks or leans in, Luke gives her a sweet, lingering kiss.

Lorelai giggles, "Love you." She says quickly.

"I know, love you too." Luke says with a lazy smile. Lorelai smiles back and leans in for another kiss.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading and as always, feel free to leave a review. The next chapter will be uploaded in 2016, I don't have an idea for it yet, but I will have one eventually I'm sure


	26. Chapter 26

Author's note: Sorry that I haven't updated this story in a little while. This chapter is just a random, a sort of filler chapter. I want to finish this story within the next couple of months, so the next few chapters will take place a long time after this one and the kids will be a lot older. Please feel free to leave a review or share your thoughts with me. Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites, I really appreciate them.

A year and a bit later, Luke received a phone call from April's boyfriend, Simon. He called to ask for Luke's permission to ask April to marry him. Luke was surprised, he thought it was old fashioned to ask for the father's permission, but he was happy that he asked. Luke gave him permission and Simon told him he would have someone film the proposal so he could see it.

A few days later, on Valentine's Day, April called Luke. She told him that she was engaged. He told her that he was happy for her. She told him that they would probably end up having the wedding in Cape Cod that summer. Anna had moved there to be closer to April. Luke tells April that's great and April promises to come visit Stars Hollow with Simon soon.

One day in late February, while Luke was busy at the diner, his cell phone rang. He was right in the middle of taking a customer's order, so he didn't answer it. When he went back to the kitchen to give Caesar the order, his phone started ringing again. He looked at the screen and saw that it was Lorelai who was calling. He answers it on the third ring.

"Hey." He answers casually.

"Hey, thank god you picked up… don't freak out, I'm in the hospital." Lorelai blew out a deep breath.

"What? What do you mean don't freak out? Why are you in the hospital?" Luke raises his voice and the diner patrons all stare at him.

"Well, I fell on some ice outside the Inn and my arm really hurt, so I went to the hospital and they told me I broke my arm. I got a cast and everything." She sounded excited and Luke was irritated by it.

"Oh, well did you hurt anything else?" He asks in a gentle voice.

"No. Just my arm, I need you to come pick me up because I can't drive. Sookie drove me here, but she had to get back to the Inn." Lorelai tells him.

"Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can. I just have to let Caesar know I'm leaving."

"All right, bye hon." Lorelai hangs up and Luke does too and puts his phone in the pocket of his jeans.

About forty minutes later, Luke arrives at the hospital. He asks the man behind the front desk where to find Lorelai and he directs him to her room. He finds Lorelai sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, swinging her feet back and forth. She looks happy, like she isn't hurt at all.

She grins when she sees Luke. "Good, you're here. Let's go."

Luke's brow furrows. "Are you sure it's okay to leave? Where's your doctor? I want to talk to him. I want to make sure you aren't hurt anywhere else." He reaches out and places his hand on her back when she stands up.

"I already signed all the papers; thank god it was my left arm, not my right. The doctor said I was fine to leave. He checked out everything, Luke. He left a few minutes ago; he said he had to get to other patients." Lorelai informs him.

"Okay. I'd feel more comfortable getting confirmation from the doctor, but I guess we can't get that."

Lorelai just nods and gestures to the door, she's ready to leave. Luke rubs her back and quickly kisses the top of her head. Lorelai smiles and they walk out of the room together. Luke keeps a hand on her back.

When they pass the front desk, Luke walks up to it,

"Hey, I just want to make sure it's alright for me to take my wife home now." He questions the man behind the desk.

"What's her name?" The man asks as he glances between the computer and Luke.

"Lorelai Gilmore-Danes," Luke tells him. He was still amazed that she had hyphenated her name and he could refer to her as his wife, even though they had been married for many years.

The man types a couple things into the computer and clicks the mouse a few times. He looks back up at Luke and says, "Yep. I've got the doctor's authorization right here. She's free to go."

"All right, thanks." Luke replies.

Luke drives Lorelai home and comes inside with her to help get her situated on the couch in front of the T.V. He asks if she needs anything before he heads back to the diner.

"No, I'm good, thanks babe." She grins.

"Okay, I'll pick up the kids from school later and come home early." Luke responds.

Lorelai just says, "Okay,"

Right before Luke steps out the door, the home phone rings. He turns around and walks to it. He picks it up and answers.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Mr. Danes?" A woman's voice answers.

"Yes, this is Luke Danes." Luke answers.

"Hi, I'm Samantha's teacher. I'm calling because unfortunately she isn't feeling well and she just got sick a few minutes ago. It seems the flu is spreading around here. Would you or your wife be able to come and pick her up?"

Luke almost sighs, but he stops himself. "Yeah, I can come pick her up. I'll head over there now."

"Okay, we'll see you soon." She replies before she hangs up. Luke hangs up the phone.

"Who was that?" Lorelai asks.

"Sam's teacher, Sam's sick, so I have to go pick her up." Luke tells her.

"Oh, no, poor Sam," Lorelai says softly.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to call Caesar and tell him I won't be coming back."

Lorelai almost tells him not to, that she can handle the kids, but she thinks it through and realises that it would be much easier to have Luke home.

They don't say anything else before Luke leaves. When he returns with Sam, he carries her up to her room and helps her change into her pajamas. He tells her to wait upstairs while he goes to get her some water. When he comes back to her room, he finds her asleep. He places the water on her nightstand and picks up her teddy bear from the floor and places it next to her in the bed.

Luke sits down next to Lorelai and relaxes until he has to leave again to pick up Will from school. When he returns, Will asks him if he can help him with his homework. When suppertime comes around, Luke orders a pizza because he's too tired to cook.

At the end of the day, after both kids are in bed, Luke lies in bed exhausted while Lorelai watches T.V. next to him. Lorelai suddenly turns the T.V. off and Luke opens his eyes.

"Nothing on?" He asks

"Nah, not really," Lorelai moves closer to him.

He gently touches her shoulder, "How's your arm?"

"It's fine. I'm not really in pain or anything."

"That's good." Luke says simply. He closes his eyes again.

Lorelai smiles and whispers, "Starting to snooze?"

"Hmm," Luke murmurs.

"You were a great dad and husband today, honey. You deserve a good night sleep." Lorelai moves even closer to him and reaches out with her right hand and gently strokes his cheek.

Luke keeps his eyes closed, but he brings his hand up and takes hers and brings it to his mouth to kiss it. Lorelai giggles.

"Goodnight." Luke whispers.

"'Night," Lorelai whispers back and she pecks his lips before she moves and lies on her back.

Luke takes the next few days off and takes care of his family. He looks after a sick Sam, helps Lorelai with the daily household chores and drives Will to and from school and just spends time with all three of them.

Months later, the whole family including Rory and Jeremy, and Liz and T.J. and Doula attend April's wedding. As Luke walks April down the aisle, he starts to tear up. Once he takes his seat, Lorelai squeezes his hand and whispers: "She's so beautiful." Luke just nods in response as tears start to fall down his face. As April and Simon start to stay their vows, Luke meets Anna's eyes and she smiles and nods, giving him a silent understanding. He returns her smile. Their relationship had developed over the years and Anna had apologized for keeping April from him.

Luke and April share a special father-daughter dance and Luke tells her how happy he is for her. April grins and says. "Thanks Dad, I love you."

"I love you too." Luke kisses her forehead and they keep dancing. After the dance, Luke finds Lorelai sitting with the kids and Rory and Jeremy. Luke asks Lorelai to dance and she agrees and he leads her to the dancefloor.

"I can't believe both of our daughters are married. I feel so old." Lorelai tells him.

"You're not old. You're just as beautiful as you were on the day I met you." Luke says softly as he pushes a strand of hair off her face.

Lorelai smirks, "Do weddings bring out the sentimental, romantic Luke?"

Luke just shrugs and pulls her closer. Lorelai rests her head on his shoulder and they dance through two slow songs.

At the end of the night, everyone hugs the bride and groom goodbye. Rory and Jeremy also say goodbye as they head to the airport to go back to Chicago.

"We raised two great daughters, didn't we?" Luke asks Lorelai

Lorelai looks and him for a moment before she answers, she knows what he is trying to say. Although he didn't know April until she was over twelve and he didn't make the best choices when she came into his life, he was grateful to have her in his life and he was happy to have Lorelai as her stepmother. And he had always been there for Rory in a way that Christopher never was and he was proud to call himself her stepfather.

"Yeah, we sure did. And we get to do it all over again with Will and Sam." Lorelai wraps her arm around Luke and leans into him. His arm comes around her waist and they stand still for a couple of minutes, and think about how lucky and grateful they are to have each other and their family.


	27. Chapter 27

Many Years Later (Will is 17 and Sam is 13)

Luke returns home from work in the early afternoon. He left Caesar and a couple of other employees in charge of the diner. He was starting to feel more and more exhausted at the end of each work day. He was approaching the age of sixty fast, and his body wasn't as flexible or as fit as it was before. April and her husband had given him two grandchildren and Lorelai was always teasing him by calling him an "old grandpa. Rory and Jeremy had decided that they didn't want to have kids, but they were content in their marriage. Lorelai accepted this, but she still wanted to be a grandmother someday.

Luke walks into the living room and finds Sam asleep on the couch. She should be in school, so he is confused as he saw her leave for school this morning. The front door opens and Luke waits in the living room as footsteps make their way over to him.

"Oh hey, you're home early." Lorelai walks in, carrying a bag from Doose's.

"Yeah, I was feeling pretty wiped out. Why isn't she at school?" Luke points to Sam.

Lorelai smiles gently. "Well, she called me from school and um she got her first period… so I told her she could come home she wanted to. I guess she must have fallen asleep." She reaches out and brushes some hair off of Sam's face.

Luke's face turns a bit red. He had never really dealt with female body things with April. He remembers that she never wanted to talk about anything embarrassing with him.  
"Isn't she a little young to, uh have that?" He asks Lorelai.

Lorelai turns to him and smiles at his nervous look. "No not really. Some girls can get it for the first time as early as nine or ten. I went to Doose's to get her what she needs. She'll be fine; every girl has to go through this."

Luke blinks and doesn't say anything. He is a bit overwhelmed by how fast both of their kids are growing up. Will is already in his senior year of high school and Sam may have just become a woman in a way.

Sam opens her eyes suddenly and looks up at Luke and Lorelai.

"Hey honey. How are you feeling?" Lorelai asks her.

Sam looks between her parents, she blushes lightly and keeps her eyes on Lorelai as she mutters: "I'm fine."

"I got everything you need at Doose's." Lorelai passes the bag to Sam and she places it next to her.

Luke notices that she seems uncomfortable about him being there. "Do you need anything else? 'Cause uh I could go get you something." He says quickly.

Sam just shakes her head.

"Are you sure because I could go get you some ice cream or something?" Luke says with a smile. He wouldn't normally offer to buy the kids sweets, but he kind of felt like the situation called for it. Sam was more like Lorelai in the sense that she enjoyed eating a lot of junk food, whereas Will enjoyed healthy food like Luke. However, Will's personality was more like Lorelai's as he was more of an extrovert and he was eccentric and witty. Sam was introverted like Luke, she was kind-hearted and she was also stubborn and a little grumpy sometimes.

Sam glances at Luke. "Well, I guess you could get me some Milk Duds." She smiles softly at him.

"Sure thing sweetie," Luke smiles at her again before he walks away.

Luke returns a half hour later. He gives Sam her Milk Duds and she thanks him. He starts doing some housework while Lorelai talks to Emily on the phone. Emily had moved to an apartment in Hartford after she had sold the house. She visited the Gilmore-Danes house once a week for dinner and to just talk. She had only been on a couple of dates with other men, but she didn't ever want to feel like she was replacing Richard, so she decided to stop dating and stay single.

When Will returns home from school, he shouts: "I'm going to go the park with the guys to practice." As he runs upstairs to his room to grab his baseball equipment, he still played baseball. It had become more of a passion for him, and Luke and Lorelai had supported him. They were happy to attend all his games, but they also wanted to make sure that he stayed on top of his schoolwork.

"I thought I told you that you had to clean your room and start writing that essay before you could go out." Luke stands at the bottom of the stairs and calls out to Will.

Will comes running downstairs carrying his bat and mitt. "I'll do it when I get back, I promise." He pushes past Luke.

Luke reaches out and puts a hand on Will's shoulder to stop him, "No. You'll stay here and do your schoolwork and clean your room. Baseball isn't a priority, and it can wait."

Will's brow furrows. "I can't believe that you don't trust that I'll do it when I get back." He mutters.

"It's not that. It's just that your mom and I would both like to see you focus on school a little more so you can bring your grades up a little. I know you love baseball, but it can wait while you take some time to concentrate on homework." Luke replies. Will had acceptable grades, they just weren't as high as Luke and Lorelai thought they could be.

Will sighs. "Fine, but we can't all be like Rory and go to Yale. Or like April and win awards for amazing discoveries…" He walks past Luke again and heads upstairs.

Luke stands still for a few seconds. "Will, that's not what…" He stops when he hears Will's bedroom door shut.

Later in bed that night, Luke and Lorelai discuss their day.

"So is Sam... okay with everything?" Luke asks a bit hesitantly. He, of course didn't understand what she was experiencing and he just wanted her to be comfortable.

Lorelai smiles warmly. "Well, she isn't having fun, but she's handling it fine."

Luke nods and shifts in the bed to get more comfortable. Lorelai reaches out and touches Luke's bald head gently. Luke flinches. He's a bit embarrassed that he's lost his hair, but Lorelai has assured him again and again that she doesn't care and that his looks don't matter to her.

"Will seemed to be a little upset at dinner; did you talk to him about school today?" She asks. She had left the house for a couple hours earlier to spend some girl time with Sookie.

"Yeah, he wanted to go play baseball, but I told him he had to stay home and work on homework and clean his room. He didn't exactly take it well." He tells Lorelai.

"Hmm. He knows that all we want is for him to be successful and have fun. I mean, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, but Will can't only focus on baseball." Lorelai says with a thoughtful expression.

"Right. He said something like 'we can't all be like Rory or April' and I wanted to tell him that's not what we expect of him, but he went to his room so I just let him be." Luke responds. He wonders if he should have talked to Will, but sometimes he knows it's best to just leave him alone.

Lorelai presses her lips together. "Yeah, we want him to be his own person. He shouldn't have to feel like he isn't as smart or as Rory or April. We love him for who he is as an individual, he doesn't need to be like them to make us proud… we should have a talk with him tomorrow."

"Yeah, we should. He should know that we just want him to be happy and we want him to succeed." Luke agrees.

Lorelai nods. "Let's go to sleep, Grandpa. It's past your bedtime." She says in a sarcastic tone.

Luke smirks. "Goodnight, crazy lady."

"'Night, hon." She gives him a quick peck on the lips then settles on the bed.

Luke turns off the lamp and relaxes next to her.

Author's note: Thanks for reading/following/reviewing. Reviews are always appreciated.

I am so excited that the revival is confirmed. I am hoping that Luke and Lorelai will either be already married or get married. I want them to have a kid or two, but I'm not sure that we'll get to see that… what are your hopes/feelings about the revival? Feel free to comment about it in your review or send me a PM.


	28. Chapter 28

The next day, Luke and Lorelai sat down with Will and talked to him about their concerns.

"Listen, we don't want you to be like April or Rory. We want you to be your own person and we don't want you to ever feel like we aren't proud of you, because we are." Luke tells him.

"Right. We just don't want you to fall behind on your school work. Baseball is something you really love, we know that. We just want you to succeed and be happy." Lorelai chimes in.

Will nods slowly. "Well I know you wouldn't want to follow in Rory's footsteps and steal a yacht." He says with a bit of bitterness to his voice.

Lorelai doesn't know what to say to that. She didn't even know that Will knew what Rory did all those years ago. Luke notices Lorelai's expression and he decides to respond to Will.

"Will, Rory was young, she made a mistake. No one is perfect and we don't expect anyone to grow up without making mistakes. And, like I said you should be your own person and while we want you to be successful, we also want you to be happy." He mimicked Lorelai's words.

"Okay. I get that you want me to be my own person. Sometimes it's just hard for me to try to live up to Rory and April, you know? I know you're proud of them and I want to make you proud too. Baseball is my passion and I know school is important too, I would never get so distracted by baseball and forget about school. "Will responds.

"All right. That's fine then." Lorelai smiles softly at him. "And you don't have to live up to Rory and April to make us proud… you should just be… you."

Luke smiles too. "Yeah. I'm glad we're all on the same page."

"Okay." Will says again and he smiles too.

A few months later, Stars Hollow's annual Firelight Festival takes place. Luke, Lorelai and the kids all attend the bonfire in the town square. Will went off with a few of his friends and Sam met up with her friend, Kellan, who was Kirk and Lulu's son.

Lorelai snuggles up to Luke. She leans against him and pulls his arm so that it's wrapped around her. This made Luke vaguely remember the time she had forced him to put his arm around her waist when she was trying to get the guy Sookie had tried to set her up with to go away. She had used him then and while he didn't really appreciate it, their conversation afterwards provoked him to buy a self-help book which made him realize he was in love with Lorelai; so it turned out well for both of them.

Luke smiles as he remembers their first kiss. Lorelai feels his mouth move against the back of her head.

"Happy?" She asks him in a flirty tone.

"You bet." He answers in a low voice. He kisses her hair.

Lorelai looks around the square and she spots Will with his friend, Skye. Luke also notices them.

"Will and his friend look awfully close… I thought they were just friends?" Luke ponders.

"No. They went out on a date last week. I'm pretty sure they're going to end up being more than friends." Lorelai replies.

"Hmm. Sometimes I feel like I never know what's going on with the kids." Luke mutters.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's hard to keep up with them nowadays." She spots Sam, who is sitting shoulder to shoulder with Kellan. "It looks like Sam's got a close friend too." She makes Luke aware of her observation.

"What?" Luke squints into the distance. He sees them. "Oh… no she's too young to be into boys."

Lorelai giggles. "You thought she was too young to have her first period too. I'm surprised that she hasn't really shown an interest in boys until now. But, I agree that she's too young to date."

"Yeah. I especially don't want her dating Kirk's kid." Luke scoffs.

"Hey, come on, Kellan is a nice kid." Lorelai says sincerely.

"Well, I guess he isn't really like Kirk… he's not as annoying" Luke says.

"Mmm hmm. The apple kind of falls far from the tree, at least Kirk's tree… he's more like Lulu I think." Lorelai agrees. She turns around and faces him.

"Whereas our kids are like their parents, Will has my wit and my eccentricity. Sam has your heart of gold and your naturally caring nature. They're the perfect mix of us actually, don't you think?" Lorelai raises her eyebrows.

Luke nods. "Yeah. They are." He grins and leans in to give her a gentle kiss.

She pulls away and grins back at him. "Love you." She whispers.

"Love you too." He whispers back.

Lorelai turns back around and Luke holds her close. They watch the fire peacefully, feeling grateful and just content to have each other and their family.

Author's note: I feel like this chapter isn't really good… I kind of thought of it randomly. I'm still planning on ending this story soon, I'm thinking that they'll be maybe 3 or 4 more chapters.  
Anyway, thanks for reading and feel free to leave a review.

3 Happy Valentine's Day 3


	29. Chapter 29

A Few Months Later

Will decided to attend the University of Connecticut. They offered him a partial athletic scholarship. Luke and Lorelai were proud of him and they were happy that he would be attending a school that was nearby. Emily gave him a car for a graduation present. He could live at home and drive to school each day, but he chose not to. He wanted to experience life outside of Stars Hollow, he wanted to have a chance to live somewhere else and meet new people. But he still promised to come home every other weekend.

At first, it was a little strange for Luke and Lorelai to only have one kid in the house. They eventually got used to it, they still missed Will, but it got easier as time went on. Sam also missed her brother, they had a close relationship. The years stated to fly by, and in the blink of an eye, Sam was in her senior year of high school and Will was in his last year of university.

Neither Will or Sam had the grades to attend Chilton. They both attended Stars Hollow High. Sam had a small group of close-knit friends and she had only had one boyfriend in 10th grade. It was Kellan, he asked her out and they dated for a bit, but then they decided they would be better off as just friends. Sam was the shy, introverted type.

* * *

One day, Luke and Lorelai sat down with Sam. They told her that it was time to talk about which colleges she wanted to apply to. Sam had been dreading this conversation for a while; she had felt like she was going to disappoint her parents when she told them what she needed to tell them.

"So do you know what colleges you want to apply to?" Lorelai asks her.

"Um, actually I… well I don't want to go to college." Sam tells both of them.

"What?" Luke wasn't sure he had heard her right.

"I don't want to go to college." Sam repeats.

Lorelai's brow furrows. "Why not, honey? You have the grades and ambition for it. Just explain what you're thinking." She says in a gentle voice. She didn't want to sound angry.

Sam takes a deep breath. "Well, I just can't picture myself in college. Yes, I manage to get good grades and I enjoy school sometimes… but I just don't think I'm cut out for college."

Luke shakes his head. "That's nonsense, you have so much potential!"

Lorelai didn't say anything. She wanted to wait until Sam explained herself more.

"There's… just nothing I want to do, career wise. I'm not that interested in any fields really… I don't know." Sam let out an exaggerated sigh.

Lorelai frowns. "Well, you can't just live with us forever; you have to do something with your life." She was starting to feel irritated.

Sam looks down. "I could take over the diner." She mutters.

"What?" Luke replies. Neither he nor Lorelai had actually heard her.

"I said I could take over the diner." She meets his gaze.

Luke was taken aback. He wasn't expecting her to say that. She had worked at the diner on the occasional weekend since she had started high school. She would serve the customers and cook. He didn't know she had liked it that much.

"You really want to do that for the rest of your life?" Lorelai asks.

"Yeah, I think I do. I do enjoy working there and I love this town. I don't want to leave it and, Dad you can't work there forever and your employees can't either."

Luke knew she had a point. For the past year, he had only worked two or three days a week. He was sort of settling himself for retirement.

"Do you really think you could handle it?" He asks her.

Sam nods. "Yeah, I know how you like everything to be done, and I know how to handle all the financial things and I even know everyone's usual orders." Sam replies.

Luke presses his lips together. "Well, I don't know."

Lorelai agrees, "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. What, were you planning on selling the diner to Kirk?" Sam jokes.

Luke couldn't help but laugh, but her joke also made him think. He was thinking about what he'd do with the diner once he officially retired. He knew if he just closed it people would be disappointed.

He looks at his daughter straight in the eye, "Well, if you're set on this, you could try it out for a year, after you graduate this year of course… and if it's okay with you mom." He turns his head to look at Lorelai.

Lorelai gives him a small smile. She turns her attention to Sam. "It's okay with me, as long as you're happy and this is what you really want."

Sam nods, "It is." She smiles. "Thank you for listening to me and not freaking out." She stands up and walks over to Luke, bends down to give him a hug. "Love you." She whispers in his ear.

Luke rubs her back. "Love you too, sweetie."

Sam also gives Lorelai a hug and whispers "Love you," too. Lorelai also whispers it back.

* * *

A few nights later, Luke came home late from the diner since he was the one to close as his employees couldn't. He heads straight to bed and Lorelai joins him shortly after.

Lorelai found him lying face-down, not asleep.

"You okay hon?" She asks, concerned.

"My back is killing me." He admits.

"Aww, want me to give you a massage?" Lorelai asks with a flirty tone to her voice.

"No, you don't have to do that." Luke mutters, but Lorelai was already on the bed.

"Sit up and take off your shirt." She tells him.

Luke did what he was told. As soon as he feels her hands rubbing his back, he groans softly.

"Feel good?" Lorelai whispers.

"Mm-hmm," Luke responds.

She massages him silently for a couple minutes before she speaks again.

"This is why it will be a good thing for Sam to take over the diner; it really tires you out and makes you sore… old man." She teases him and giggles.

Luke just chuckles. She continues massaging him until he tells her to stop.

"Did it help?" She asks.

"Yes, it really did.", then "Come here." He says in a low voice.

Lorelai grins and moves in front of him. He captures her lips with his. She kisses him back.

She is the one to pull away. "Hmm, I thought you were too old for that." She laughs.

He just shakes his head and pulls her back to him. They keep kissing as they start to remove each other's clothes.

Later that night, just as Lorelai was falling asleep, Luke whispers: "Thanks for the massage."

"Shouldn't you be thanking me for something else?" She gasps "Dirty!"

Luke rolls his eyes: "You've never changed, have you?"

"No, but you love it." She kisses his chin.

He smiles, "'Night."

"'Night babe," She pecks his lips then settles next to him in the bed.

* * *

**Author's note: Once again, this chapter was just kind of random. I'm definitely finishing this story; I've decided that the next chapter will be the last one, the epilogue. I don't even know if anyone is still reading this haha. Thanks for reading, reviewing following and favouriting this story anyway. **


	30. Epilogue

William graduated from university five months later. Samantha graduated high school a couple months after that. A few months after his graduation, Will got drafted for a minor league baseball team. Sam kept her promise and started working at the diner every day starting a week after her graduation. After a month of her working there every day, Luke started to come in less, averaging one day a week. He trusted Sam and he could see that she truly enjoyed the job. Luke officially retired a few weeks after that.

Lorelai decided to retire a few years later, at the age of sixty five. Sookie retired at the same time and they sold the Dragonfly to a company that was similar to the Durham Group. As the years went on, Sam thrived at the diner. She never changed the name and she never removed the "William's Hardware" sign. She even wore a flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap occasionally to sort pay tribute to her father. Will eventually got drafted to a major league baseball team.

* * *

The citizens of Stars Hollow quickly adjusted to the changes at Luke's diner. They all loved Sam and whenever Luke came in to the diner, they liked to tease him by telling him that Sam was friendlier than him and a better cook. As the years passed, the citizens of Stars Hollow grew older and their health started to decline. Miss Patty was the first one to pass. She had been battling lung cancer for about a year and her battle was lost. Babette passed about a year later of old age; Morey was not far behind her. Taylor, forever stubborn passed after all of the older residents did. Emily passed away at the age of eighty nine. Lorelai and Rory visited Richard and Emily's graves every year. Will and Sam also visited when they could.

Rory and Jeremy and April and Simon visited Stars Hollow a few times a year. Will eventually married and Luke and Lorelai became grandparents together. When Lorelai held her granddaughter for the first time, she didn't want to let her go.

Luke sat next to her. "You can't hold her forever you know." He said with a smile as he watched their granddaughter sleep in Lorelai's arms.

"I know. I just… she's so small and precious. And she's never going to be this small again. I want to cherish this moment." Lorelai replied.

"Hmm. Do you remember when Will and Sam were this small?" Luke asked softly.

"Yes. And Rory too, they grew up too fast." A tear fell down Lorelai's face.

Luke just nodded. Lorelai gently passed the baby to him after a couple minutes passed. He looked down at the baby and smiled before he met Lorelai's gaze. She grinned at him and he grinned back.

"I love you." Luke whispered softly. He knew it wasn't necessary to say it. He knew she knew this. He just wanted to say it.

"I love you too hon." Lorelai whispered back and she kissed his cheek gently.

Sam also got married a few years later. Luke and Lorelai ended up with a total of five grandchildren, including April and Simon's kids. They stayed in Stars Hollow for the rest of their lives even though only one of their kids stayed there. Stars Hollow was more than a town to them. It was the place where Lorelai felt at home for the first time. It was the place where Luke was born and raised. It was the place where Rory was raised. It was the place where Lorelai and Luke met, the place where the fell in love.

* * *

The year Lorelai turned seventy two, she suffered a heart attack. Luke had never dialled a phone number so fast, even if it was only three digits. The ambulance arrived quickly and thankfully Lorelai made it to the hospital on time. When she woke up in the hospital, the first thing Lorelai saw was Luke. He was sitting in a chair next to her bed, his head bowed. Lorelai heard him sniffle.

She tried to speak, but couldn't as she had a breathing tube in her mouth. Luke heard her make a noise.

"Lorelai?" He met her eyes. "Thank god… I thought I lost you. I mean the doctors said you should be fine but you just looked so…" He stopped when Lorelai reached out to him.

She tried to convey with her eyes that she was relieved to see him; she wanted to tell him that everything was going to be all right. She had never seen him cry like this. The last time she remembered seeing him cry was when she had her miscarriage.

Luke held her hand for a while until he thought to leave the room to get a doctor.

After that health scare, Lorelai decided to make a change in her life. As she remembered what she, Rory and Emily went through when Richard had his heart attack; she knew she had never wanted her loved ones to feel that scared. She followed the doctor's advice and changed her lifestyle choices. She ate healthier and exercised more. Luke supported her every step of the way. He also started to appreciate life more. Both of them knew that life was short and that they should make it worthwhile.

* * *

Luke and Lorelai grew old together. Their love only grew as the years went on. They'd spend mornings relaxing at home, just happy spending time together. In the afternoons, they'd walk through town hand in hand. Sam occasionally cooked a special dinner for them at the diner. Rory, Will and April always visited whenever they had the time. They made a pact to always make sure that at least one of them would visit Luke and Lorelai for important holidays and birthdays.

Lorelai loved to bring out old pictures and reminisce about happy memories. Luke also enjoyed this, he just likes to see her happy after all. One afternoon, when they spent the morning snuggled up watching an old movie, Lorelai brought up a memory that she would never forget.

"Do you remember when you came to my door, didn't say a word and just kissed me?" She said with a soft smile.

Luke took a minute to think about it. He vaguely remembered it. He was a little shocked that she seemed to remember it so clearly.

"That's when I came to my senses and realized I wanted you back and that I never wanted to lose you again." Luke said slowly.

Lorelai smiled. "That was the best kiss of my life." She said simply.

Luke just nodded and rubbed her arm gently. He wasn't sure what to say.

Lorelai thought of another memory. "Remember when you threw Rory that going away party?" She smiled again. "That was wonderful. I couldn't believe that you did all of that for her."

Luke smiled and nodded. "Of course, Rory deserved it and you did too. You raised a great kid, Lorelai." He said humbly.

Lorelai pressed her face into his chest. His arm came around her.

"We've had a great life. I can't imagine where Rory or I would be without you, Luke." She raised her head and looked at him.

"I can't imagine what my life would be like without you either. I love you…" He smirked and added: "junkie."

"I love you too, angel." She smiled and gave him a kiss.

THE END

**Author's note: Thank you so much for reading, following, favouriting and reviewing this story. It took me over a year to complete it, but I'm happy with it. I feel like this last chapter is a little cheesy/mushy but that's the way I wanted to write it. I hope you enjoyed this last chapter. I was thinking of ending this story with either Luke or Lorelai's death, but then I thought that would be too sad and I wanted a happy, fluffy ending.**

**Luke and Lorelai's love story may be fictional, but I love it so much and I hope I find my own Luke someday haha.  
Thanks again. **


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